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.

First Ladies of the Republic: Creating a Democratic Style

I began reading about the First Ladies while designing my quilt Remember the Ladies. I have read many biographies and general books on these amazing women.

The wives of our presidents are not elected. They have no job description. Some come to the White House unwillingly, although some did push their spouse into office. They face the deepest public scrutiny and share with their husbands both fame and criticism.

The first First Ladies had the hardest (unpaid) job: everything about the office of the presidency had to be invented. And a lot of it fell on the ladies, for they handled the social networking. If the president and his lady appeared to ape European courtly traditions they were accused of being monarchists and anti-Democratic. But we could not appear to be backwoods rubes to the foreign ambassadors, either.

First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role by Jeanne E. Abrams shows how these women responded to the challenge of creating a Democratic social style for the presidency.

Martha and George Washington were revered figures when George became the first president. Don't think they were exempt from criticism! The political in-fighting and party politics started up right away. Like many presidential couples, the Washington's personalities balanced each other. George could be stiff, but Martha was beloved by everyone, America's sweetheart-- "the mother of our country."

As the wife of the first Vice President, Abigail Adams became very close to Martha. When John Adams became president, Abigail followed Martha's pared-down, understated formality. Abigail was a very different personality, of the highest intelligence and not afraid to speak her mind. She was an important sounding board for John. Frail health plagued her and when her health required her to retire to the Adam's home in Quincy, John sorely missed her counsel.

Thomas Jefferson's wife had tragically died during the war after she fled from their plantation shortly after giving birth. His daughter Patsy sometimes played hostess. Sometimes his Secretary of State's wife Dolley Madison stepped in. Jefferson downplayed his elegant and sophisticated taste with a forceful display of anti-elitism, welcoming guests in bedroom slippers.

With the intellectual James Madison's election, his younger wife Dolley Madison took the capital by storm. A brilliant extrovert with a high social IQ, she notched the style up a few ratchets. Her 'squeezes' included all of Washington, bringing together political enemies, men and women. Dolley had high style, refined and dignified but with real bling. Well, she wore pearls instead of diamonds, so we give her that. When Dolley died her funeral rivaled that of George Washington's!

Each woman advanced the role of First Lady, politically for their influence on the president and their ability to tweak the granting of political office, and by promoting causes. All three valued the traditional role of women but also understood that it was women who determined social manners.

This book is a nice introduction to these ladies and their influence.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role
by Jeanne E. Abrams
NYU Press
Pub Date: 06 Mar 2018
ISBN: 9781479886531
Hardcover $28.95

Remember the Ladies: The President's Wives in Redwork
by Nancy A. Bekofske

Remember the Ladies from Quilts Presidential and Patriotic
by Susan Reich