I am currently on research break preparing Series 15 on Inventions That Changed Women’s Lives. But here’s a little bonus content for you in the meantime.
Those of you in the United States are gearing up for the Fourth of July, Independence Day. Those of you not in the US may have a slightly different take on that, depending on your country of origin.
However, there’s no denying that the wives of the American Founding Fathers were incredible, and at the top of the list is usually Abigail Adams. She was intelligent, educated, abolitionist, and definitely a future subject of this show. She also ran the farm and the business affairs as a (basically) single mother, while her husband John Adams flitted about being a revolutionary, politician, and diplomat.
One of the reasons we know so much about Abigail is that she and John wrote letters to each other when they were separated, which was frequent. The most famous letter was sent in March 1776, when Abigail told John to “remember the ladies” in the new code of laws he would help set up. John’s response to that letter is an absolute epic husband fail. I mean he really bombed it. I’ll do an episode on it someday.
But at other times he did correspond with her like she was an intelligent human being worthy of respect. One of those times was a letter he wrote her from Philadelphia on July 3, 1776. His letter starts with him feeling a little down. And he had good reason. Contrary to what many of us Americans absorbed in school, there were actually a lot more than just 13 British colonies in North America. Colonies like Nova Scotia, and what became known as Prince Edward Island, and Quebec. Quebec started French, but they were British by this point.
Revolutionaries like John Adams initially hoped the people in those colonies and provinces would join the revolution. Partly because there is strength in numbers, and also because it would secure the northern border if we were friends. Canadians themselves were split on the issue, especially the very large number of Catholics in Quebec who couldn’t help noticing that the British government allowed Catholicism but many of the American colonies did not. So much for the land of religious freedom, huh?
Anyway, the Americans sent up an army to “persuade” the reluctant, and it went very, very badly. I don’t know why you would try assaulting Quebec City on New Year’s Eve, but they did. The Quebecois soldiers proved more than equal to the task of repelling General Montgomery and Colonel Benedict Arnold. The survivors hunkered down for the rest of the winter and a smallpox outbreak before staggering home in June of 1776. The dream of the US and Canada being the same new country was over.
This is the news that was weighing on John Adams’s mind as he wrote to Abigail, and that’s where his letter starts. But in other, less military ways, he had reason for cheer. While it had been obvious for quite a while that there was going to be a revolution, the actual official vote in the Continental Congress saying “we are independent” had just happened the day before on July 2nd. Yes, July 2nd. Not the 4th. But the vote was held on a draft of the official statement. It got some tweaking, and they approved the final version Declaration of Independence on July 4th.
That is why, when it was printed, it said right at the top: “IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.” They ordered 200 copies printed, which obviously wasn’t enough for every former colonist to read the news that they were not, in fact, colonists anymore. Not everyone was literate anyway, so the common practice was for such things to be read aloud, for example in the public square in the center of town. That’s how people learned about stuff like this. With this declaration, that first public reading was on July 8th. And that long list of official signers that we now see on the Declaration? They didn’t actually sign until August 2nd.
So there’s a wealth of possible dates for the fireworks and a barbecue, and, as you will see, John Adams was dead wrong about which one we would end up celebrating. Here is his complete letter to Abigail:
Philadelphia July 3d. 1776
Had a Declaration of Independency been made seven Months ago, it would have been attended with many great and glorious Effects . . . . We might before this Hour, have formed Alliances with foreign States. — We should have mastered Quebec and been in Possession of Canada …. You will perhaps wonder, how such a Declaration would have influenced our Affairs, in Canada, but if I could write with Freedom I could easily convince you, that it would, and explain to you the manner how. — Many Gentlemen in high Stations and of great Influence have been duped, by the ministerial Bubble of Commissioners to treat …. And in real, sincere Expectation of this effort Event, which they so fondly wished, they have been slow and languid, in promoting Measures for the Reduction of that Province. Others there are in the Colonies who really wished that our Enterprise in Canada would be defeated, that the Colonies might be brought into Danger and Distress between two Fires, and be thus induced to submit. Others really wished to defeat the Expedition to Canada, lest the Conquest of it, should elevate the Minds of the People too much to hearken to those Terms of Reconciliation which they believed would be offered Us. These jarring Views, Wishes and Designs, occasioned an opposition to many salutary Measures, which were proposed for the Support of that Expedition, and caused Obstructions, Embarrassments and studied Delays, which have finally, lost Us the Province.
All these Causes however in Conjunction would not have disappointed Us, if it had not been for a Misfortune, which could not be foreseen, and perhaps could not have been prevented, I mean the Prevalence of the small Pox among our Troops …. This fatal Pestilence compleated our Destruction. — It is a Frown of Providence upon Us, which We ought to lay to heart.
But on the other Hand, the Delay of this Declaration to this Time, has many great Advantages attending it. — The Hopes of Reconciliation, which were fondly entertained by Multitudes of honest and well meaning tho weak and mistaken People, have been gradually and at last totally extinguished. — Time has been given for the whole People, maturely to consider the great Question of Independence and to ripen their judgments, dissipate their Fears, and allure their Hopes, by discussing it in News Papers and Pamphletts, by debating it, in Assemblies, Conventions, Committees of Safety and Inspection, in Town and County Meetings, as well as in private Conversations, so that the whole People in every Colony of the 13, have now adopted it, as their own Act. — This will cement the Union, and avoid those Heats and perhaps Convulsions which might have been occasioned, by such a Declaration Six Months ago.
But the Day is past. The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. — I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. — Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.
Here, John put down his pen.
It took Abigail some time to answer this letter because she had a lot on her hands at the time: houseguests with sick kids who “puke every morning” (her words, not mine), her own kids had eye infections, a horse died, a drought threatened the harvest, and a fleet of potentially hostile ships that appeared off the coast. It was more than enough to deal with, but when she found time to write, her letter did respond to John’s enthusiasm for the new country. She said:
tho your Letters never fail to give me pleasure, be the subject what it will, yet it was greatly heightned by the prospect of the future happiness and glory of our Country; nor am I a little Gratified when I reflect that a person so nearly connected with me has had the Honour of being a principal actor, in laying a foundation for its future Greatness. May the foundation of our new constitution, be justice, Truth and Righteousness. Like the wise Mans house may it be founded upon those Rocks and then neither storms or temptests will overthrow it.
As you can see, it was high hopes. The war had barely begun. The constitution which Abigail refers to had not yet been written. Justice, truth, and righteousness are something we still struggle to deliver consistently. There was a long way to go, but it had started. If you are celebrating the Fourth of July, I wish you a happy one. If not, thanks for listening anyway.
Selected Sources
Bomboy, Scott. “When Is the Real Independence Day: July 2 or July 4? – National Constitution Center.” National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org, 2020. https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/when-is-the-real-independence-day-july-2-or-july-4.
Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 13 – 14 July 1776 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/
Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776, “Had a Declaration…” [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/
Mayer, Holly. “Canada and the American Revolution.” http://www.amrevmuseum.org, n.d. https://www.amrevmuseum.org/canada-and-the-american-revolution.
Michals, Debra . “Abigail Smith Adams.” National Women’s History Museum, 2015. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/abigail-adams.
Her Half of History 