Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, the nation's second president. Abigail had strong opinions about war, politics, and the rights of women-and she wasn't shy about expressing them. Few women in her time were as outspoken. Abigail Adams helped mold John Adams's ideas-and so too our history.TIME For Kids r Biographies help make a connection between the lives of past heroes and the events of today. In Abigail's times, women were second-class citizens who were given little education and had few rights. Abigail wanted men and women to have equal rights. Her words have inspired women for centuries, and today many of Abigail's ideas have finally taken hold.

Time For Kids: Abigail Adams
Eyewitness to America's Birth

Chapter One

Remember the Ladies

On July 18, 1776, a crowd gathered in front of the State House in Boston, Massachusetts. Everyone was waiting for the officials to read an important announcement. It was called the Declaration of Independence. The thirteen American colonies did not want to be ruled by Britain anymore. They wanted to announce their freedom.

The Revolutionary War, which had started in 1775, would last for seven more years. Abigail knew that women would have to fight for their rights too. Four months earlier, Abigail had written to her husband, John Adams, asking him to "remember the ladies" when making new laws for the country. She wasn't asking for the right to vote, but she did want fairer laws—such as allowing women to keep some of the money they earned, instead of giving it to their husbands.

John laughed at her wish. Yet Abigail went on to play an important role in the new nation. She took care of their home and children while her husband was in Europe making peace treaties with other countries. Years later, in a role that would become known as "First Lady," she helped President Adams make important decisions. Abigail had always been a woman with her own opinions. She had started speaking her mind long before, when she was a young girl in Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Time For Kids: Abigail Adams
Eyewitness to America's Birth. Copyright © by Michelle Editors of TIME For Kids. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from Time for Kids: Abigail Adams: Eyewitness to America's Birth by Time for Kids Editors
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