Abigail Adams was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. She was a founder of the United States, and was both the first second lady and second first lady of the United States, although such titles were not used at the time. She and Barbara Bush are the only two women in American history who were both married to a U.S. president and the mother of a U.S. president.
Portrait c. 1800–1815 by Gilbert Stuart
Abigail Adams's birthplace in Weymouth, Massachusetts
Abigail Smith Adams – 1766 portrait by Benjamin Blyth
John Adams – 1766 portrait also by Blyth
John Adams was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain. During the latter part of the Revolutionary War and in the early years of the new nation, he served the U.S. government as a senior diplomat in Europe. Adams was the first person to hold the office of vice president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with important contemporaries, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams and his friend and political rival Thomas Jefferson.
Portrait c. 1800–1815
Adams's birthplace in present-day Quincy, Massachusetts
John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence depicting the Committee of Five presenting its draft of the Declaration to the Congress in Philadelphia; Adams appears in the center with his hand on his hip.
The Assembly Room at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence