A View From Abroad: The Story of John and Abigail Adams in Europe by Jeanne E. Abrams

A scholarly presentation, well presented, with the main ideas and insights easily grasped, The View from Abroad is a vivid study of the Adams, their time, and the formation of the American system of government.

John Adams lived in Europe over ten years, his wife Abigail joining him his last four years. The experience gave Adams insight into the social and economic implications of monarchical governments, helping to form his ideal American political system with a balance of power to contain both oligarchy and mobs. 

John and Abigail remained staunchly attached to their homeland, rejecting the 'fripperies' and attachment to entertainment of the wealthy court and aristocratic life styles. 

America would thrive, they believed, if the good New England values of virtue, cooperation, faith, and thrift remained foundational. Virtue was necessary for good government.

John had no idealistic view of human nature. He knew that people could be rallied by self-promoting, charismatic leaders, and that the lure of luxury would seduce many.

Revolutionary friends parted ways over the Constitution. Mercy Warren and Thomas Jefferson was critical of John Adams' views.

As a Federalist, Adams believed that a strong federal government was required to make trade agreements that would ensure America's economic growth and levy taxes to support an army. Anti-Federalist Jefferson was influenced by the radial enlightenment view of humanity progressing toward perfection, and he feared the loss of individual and states rights.

Abrams highlights Adams concerns about America. He worried that short terms of office that might create instability, especially interference by foreign nations.

I especially enjoyed the excerpts from letters written by John and Abigail, hearing their opinions in their own voices.

I received a free galley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

A View from Abroad: The Story of John and Abigail Adams in Europe
by Jeanne E. Abrams
NYU Press
Pub Date: January 26, 2021
ISBN: 9781479802876
hardcover $27.95 (USD)

from the publisher:

From 1778 to 1788, the Founding Father and later President John Adams lived in Europe as a diplomat. Joined by his wife, Abigail, in 1784, the two shared rich encounters with famous heads of the European royal courts, including the ill-fated King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette, and the staid British Monarchs King George III and Queen Charlotte.

In this engaging narrative, A View from Abroad takes us on the first full exploration of the Adams’s lives abroad. Jeanne E. Abrams reveals how the journeys of John and Abigail Adams not only changed the course of their intellectual, political, and cultural development—transforming the couple from provincials to sophisticated world travelers—but most importantly served to strengthen their loyalty to America.

Abrams shines a new light on how the Adamses and their American contemporaries set about supplanting their British origins with a new American identity. They and their fellow Americans grappled with how to reorder their society as the new nation took its place in the international transatlantic world. After just a short time abroad, Abigail maintained that, “My Heart and Soul is more American than ever. We are a family by ourselves.” The Adamses’ quest to define what it means to be an American, and the answers they discovered in their time abroad, still resonate with us to this day.