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Abigail Adams
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Portrait of Abigail Adams by Gilbert Stuart, showing her seated and wearing a lace bonnet and shawl over a red dress, with a neutral background. Pastel portrait of American first lady Abigail Adams by Benjamin Blyth, showing her in a dark dress with lace trim and a pearl choker against a soft blue background.
Color illustrations of three women from the 18th century set against a white paper background, including a Black woman in a blue dress and white bonnet, a white woman loading a cannon, and a white woman holding a rifle. The text Daughters of the Revolution appears in capital letters.
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Portrait of Abigail Adams by Gilbert Stuart, showing her seated and wearing a lace bonnet and shawl over a red dress, with a neutral background.
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Washington Monument. Washington Monument and fireworks, Washington DC. The Monument was built as an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington.
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Portrait of Abigail Adams by Gilbert Stuart, showing her seated and wearing a lace bonnet and shawl over a red dress, with a neutral background.
Abigail Adams Abigail Adams, oil on canvas by Gilbert Stuart, 1800–15; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Abigail Adams

American first lady
Also known as: Abigail Smith
Written by
Betty Boyd Caroli
Betty Boyd Caroli has written extensively about American first ladies. A graduate of Oberlin College, she holds a master's degree in Mass Communications from the Annenberg School of the University of Pennsylvania...
Betty Boyd Caroli
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
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•History

Abigail Adams (born November 22 [November 11, Old Style], 1744, Weymouth, Massachusetts [U.S.]—died October 28, 1818, Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.) was an American first lady (1797–1801), the wife of John Adams, second president of the United States, and mother of John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States. She was a prolific letter writer whose correspondence gives an intimate and vivid portrayal of life in the young republic. Born to William Smith, a Congregational minister,...

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