PRESENTER: Morning and welcome. Thank you so much for
joining us here today at the John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library and Museum President's Day Festival. I'm Kennedy Library Forum
producer Liz Murphy. And now, it's my great honor
to introduce our guests for this next segment. We hope to have a
little time at the end of this segment for audience
questions and answers. If you do have questions,
then please come right up to the mics at that time
to ask your questions. And now, I am so pleased to
introduce second President John Adams and First
Lady Abigail Adams. Thank you for sharing your
insights with us today. Please join me in welcoming
our special guests. [APPLAUSE] JOHN ADAMS: Madam. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Mr. Adams. JOHN ADAMS: I would, first of
all, like to thank all of you very much for inviting us here. Imagine having a special day
of celebration for presidents. I hold the office most dear. And of course, when
I wrote thoughts on government back in 1776 and
the Massachusetts Constitution for this Commonwealth in 1779, I
had not the presidency in mind, but I had thoughts of a governor
for state constitutions. But it is very
much the same idea, and our government is something
that I treasure, though, in one of my many
moments without dear Mrs. Adams by my side, I got myself
into trouble as vice president. Would you like to hear about it? AUDIENCE: Yes. JOHN ADAMS: I thought
maybe, Mrs. Adams, it was from too much
time in Europe. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Now, I don't
know which story you are going to be telling, Mr. Adams. [LAUGHS] JOHN ADAMS: The one that
you should have stopped me when I was vice president
when we were thinking up a title for the president, as
opposed to just Mr. President. Well, let me hear
what you think. I spoke to Congress
and said the title ought to be His
Majesty, the President. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Well, there
are presidents of card gaming clubs and small organizations. It's an office that requires
some dignity, a little majesty. This is the executive of the
United States of America, and we have to set a precedent
of a good, strong, executive head. JOHN ADAMS: Indeed. And they dubbed me a
monarchist from that time on. In fact, one of
the senators said he had a nice title for me. His Rotundity. [LAUGHTER] Which I did not find very
amusing, but which you seem to. And of course,
during my presidency, there were very difficult times. And with factions in the zone,
the party that I was supposed to belong to, the
Federalists, I was looked upon with disdain, most particularly
by the retired Secretary of the Treasury under President
Washington, that little man from New York, Alexander
Hamilton, and others. ABIGAIL ADAMS:
Devil in his eyes. JOHN ADAMS: And my vice
president was of no aid whatsoever during
those turbulent times of the presidency. And yet, despite what would
become a lack of popularity by some, I was able to
avoid a war with France. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Thank goodness. ADAMS: Do I prattle on
about my administration? ABIGAIL ADAMS: A little
applause there is good. Peace when avoiding
war with France. I wish you'd give him a little
more applause at the very end of that term, though. Unfortunately, word that peace
would be held with France, we would not be going to war,
was a little bit too late to save the re-election
campaign of Mr. Adams. Though of course, campaigning
is entirely different thing for you now. I believe this is an election
year for you, is it not? Very good. Are the candidates all
behaving themselves well? AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] ABIGAIL ADAMS: Are the people
talking about the candidates behaving themselves well? AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] ABIGAIL ADAMS: All right. Then maybe it is
fairly like the-- JOHN ADAMS: Are they
talking about the issues that are important? AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] ABIGAIL ADAMS: Well, let's see. JOHN ADAMS: Rather
than each other? ABIGAIL ADAMS: Right. Of course elections at the
turn of the 19th century-- so the election of 1800, which
unfortunately was the campaign which Mr. Adams lost. And I say campaign,
but Mr. Adams was not doing any
campaigning on his own. That was an extraordinarily
gauche thing to do. JOHN ADAMS: Campaigning? Who would do such a
thing except Aaron Burr? ABIGAIL ADAMS: Oh, who
wants to be like Aaron Burr? No. So rather than trying to promote
yourself or go on appearances or shake hands with individuals
and press the flesh as they might say, no, Mr. Adams simply
sat at home in Massachusetts, and then all the times
when he was still in Philadelphia for his
terms as vice president, and waited for the
results to come in. It's a matter of
patience and standing on what you have
done in the past as an example for how you
might lead in the future. Of course, as I understand,
elections for you are very, very different. Heavy campaigning. Lots of money. Lots of attention. Flash and arguments
and all of that. And of course, so many more
of you are able to vote. In this room, if there was
an election here today, how many of you would
be able to cast a vote? Oh, that's so many more. JOHN ADAMS: It is
indeed, Mrs. Adams. Most gratifying. Perhaps a second term would
have been in the offing for me. ABIGAIL ADAMS: That would
have been wonderful. I should like to think so. I would have given
my vote to you. So yes, as you know,
women don't have the right to vote at the time
Mr. Adams's presidency, nor do people of color, anyone
enslaved, formerly enslaved. Anyone who didn't meet a
property requirement of owning enough land to be deemed
a citizen in that right would not actually
have the right to vote. So you're incredibly fortunate
to have that in your pocket. That means of being engaged. Means of taking a little pride
in ownership of the nation that you've been a part of. Now that's not to
say that you don't get that pride in
ownership until you have the right to vote. I suppose I should also ask, if
there was an election held here today, how many of the
people in this room wouldn't be allowed to vote? That's right. There are still
limits on who actually does get to cast a vote,
and our young people are not amongst those who
can choose the president. However, that doesn't mean that
you can't be civically engaged. You don't have to just
cast a vote, because there are examples throughout
the history of our nation of human nature,
of women, of people who don't have power coming
and using what they can in a patriotic way to
serve their country and serve the
people around them. Women especially, not
having had the right to vote or the right to
hold public office-- why should we ever
feel like we need to be invested in our nation? And yet it's so clear that
many women, many people who have not had enfranchisement
have had the ability to do so. And it is all about the
sacrifices you make. Ways to be engaged
with your nation. JOHN ADAMS: Sacrifices
you speak of, Mrs. Adams. And dare I not say, she would be
one of the finest officeholders this country would ever have. How about round of applause
for Mrs. Adams for that? [APPLAUSE] And yet she was, when I was
president, my finest counsel. And many times I should have
listened to her more, and many more times I wish she
would have been by my side when I was in various
places in my future. But in the beginning-- we were
married in October of 1764-- we did not know what
would be ahead of us. We would not know how many
times we would be separated. And it began right from the
beginning with my law practice beginning to blossom. And of course, I had
not been sure I was going to be a lawyer at first. Father wished me to
be a man of the cloth. Can you imagine Minister Adams? You may laugh. However, when I
became a lawyer, I discovered there
was much travel. The court would travel from
county seat to county seat. To the northernmost part of
Massachusetts to Cape Cod, to Salem, to Worcester,
to Taunton, Plymouth, and of course Boston. And all of this time would take
me away from my dear family. And I would write
furiously to Mrs. Adams, and she would write in return. And I would long for being home
with my dear wife and my family and my farm and my
books, and it is a theme that I would return to
whether I was on circuit, whether I was in Philadelphia,
or whether I was in Europe. And my practice flourished
I saw every sort of case that you can imagine from
disagreements about property to simple assaults to theft-- ABIGAIL ADAMS: To your most
notable one, I should imagine. JOHN ADAMS: Indeed. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Defense
of the soldiers involved in the massacre on King
Street at the Boston Massacre. JOHN ADAMS: In
fact, I could spend all of the rest of our time
together talking about just that. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Don't let him do JOHN ADAMS: But I have promised
Mrs. Adams that I will not. But it was one of the
greatest moments of service I believe that I have
given to my country even before we were a country. What could be more important
than a court of law being fair, having these
soldiers being properly counseled and represented by
a fine attorney such as myself and Josiah Quincy, Jr. to show
that the laws of Great Britain, which they seem to think
that they had the market on and that the courts
were inferior here, could prove just as wise as
those in England themselves? And find even His
Majesty's soldiers accused of murdering citizens
of the town of Boston-- to be put on trial,
those soldiers? They deserved a proper
defense, which I gave to them. And as you well know
from your books, they were all found not
guilty but two, who-- they were spared their
lives due to my pleading for a benefit of clergy, and
they were merely branded. But it was my finest moment,
and it was only the beginning of my service to my
country and Mrs. Adams as well, because someone had
to be home when I was away. ABIGAIL ADAMS: That's true. And as much as the
traveling while John was on the circuit in the
early years of our marriage was a strain-- our children were being
born during this time. They were young, and,
well, we were trying to get our life together. And he was providing
for the family and would be gone for
a whole week, sometimes two weeks at a time. And it was so difficult,
but we couldn't imagine what would be coming
for us as the war came to our doorstep. In fact, when the colonies of
Great Britain in North America began to send delegates to
meet for a continental Congress after the tea had been
destroyed in Boston Harbor and just before shots were first
fired at Lexington and Concord at the beginning of
the war, Mr. Adams was selected as one
of the delegates from Massachusetts
to attend, which meant he had to go all
the way to Philadelphia. And without a stated return
date in mind, either. Now these absences went from
days on end to weeks on end to months before Mr.
Adams would return, and unfortunately it
would only get much worse. While he was gone, I had to-- of course, he was doing all
of this work for the nation. Laying the groundwork
for the country, fighting for our independence--
arguing for our independence and fighting for
our independence. JOHN ADAMS: With my tongue. ABIGAIL ADAMS: And meanwhile-- JOHN ADAMS: With my voice. ABIGAIL ADAMS: --I
was home maintaining the house and the farm,
raising the children, providing their
education, their rearing, making sure they had good
influences around them. And when I say
tending to the house, I don't just mean sweeping
floors and washing windows. This is a house and the
household within it. Our financial status, the things
that we are spending money on and taking in, the
amount of small debts that we are working on. There were a number
of horrific outbreaks of diseases which happened while
Mr. Adams was away from us. We lost family members. I nursed children and our
aging, and dying parents. I made land purchases. I saw to the maintenance of
our tenants and our employees on the farm. And all of this
without actually having a right to my own property or
my own vote or enfranchisement. So I was quite, quite
engaged all throughout this. And keeping in touch
with Mr. Adams-- waiting on edge for his letters. For his words to tell
me what was happening, because this was
incredibly important work being done that
had taken him from me. JOHN ADAMS: Despite the
secrecy of it all, of course. So I went from worrying
about my family during the times of the Boston
Massacre and having them in Boston to worrying
about them being far, far away in
Philadelphia with events such as the siege of
Boston going on, wondering if there would be some attempt
at our part of Massachusetts. Writing letters to Mrs.
Adams that if the soldiers should come, she must take the
children and fly to the woods. All of these great worries while
great events were happening. Now just before
returning to Philadelphia for the second Congress, days
after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, I did not just
read about it or hear about it. I went to see for myself. I climbed aboard my horse and I
saw Lexington Green, the North Bridge, and the battle
road for myself. I knew there was
no turning back. So when I returned
to that Congress and men such as John
Dickinson and others were speaking of
conciliation, writing letters to His Majesty such as the
Olive Branch Petition begging for him to stand up for the
colonies against parliament, I knew full well
that he would not. I had seen blood
spilled in Boston and now at Lexington
and Concord. And then Mrs. Adams told
me about Bunker Hill. I knew then there
was no turning back. And slowly but surely,
the middle way-- which if you ask me
is no way at all-- was being turned. New delegates to the
Congress were changing minds. People, thanks to Thomas
Paine writing Common Sense-- and I sent you a
copy, my dear wife. With changing minds
no longer were they looking for conciliation. They were not even thinking of
His Majesty as their sovereign anymore. They wanted independence. So when I heard there
had to be consultation of the people back
home from these men, I told them that
they wait for us. And finally, from the spring
where I received a fine letter from Mrs. Adams on her
thoughts about what we should be about
with government, remembering the ladies-- finally that summer
it came to a head and independence was debated,
approved of eventually, and declared, and a
declaration of independence penned by my young
friend of those days, now President Jefferson, and we
declared our independence. Was it a perfect document? It was not. And from there,
not only was I away from Mrs. Adams and my
family on this continent, but I would be sent
overseas to France to aid Dr. Franklin in gaining
an alliance with that country. Little did I know that before
I even stepped on shore, thanks to the Battle of Saratoga,
he had secured it, making my trip on The
Boston that February and into March
completely unnecessary. And I would make
yet another trip after coming home to draft the
constitution for Massachusetts. And this time, it would
be securing Dutch loans. And finally after the
Battle of Yorktown-- and I was very ill at that time. Finally, securing a peace
treaty with Great Britain-- the Treaty of Paris. And securing more loans. And then 1784 occurred,
and you will never guess who would join myself
and our dear son, John Quincy, the first time. There was much fear of
bringing John Quincy with me, but it was done so
for his benefit. And then for the second
trip, bringing along Charles. But in 1784 we three would
be joined by our ladies. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Yes. And of course, it was
an incredibly long war. The distances of John
being in Philadelphia and those absences
were hard enough on us, but having an ocean
between us during war time meant that the letters that we
did write to each other that managed to get their way all the
way across the Atlantic often were besieged by other warships. They were being attacked. So he had to send along the
letters in diplomatic postage and they would be
hidden on the warships-- on French warships coming
to aid the United States. It was incredibly difficult to
keep in touch with each other. Sometimes it would be
half a year or longer without word from one another. I longed-- longed to join him. Well most importantly,
I longed to have him come home to Massachusetts. I was done with this
business in Europe. But finally, after
the end of the war, after the Treaty
of Paris was signed and finally we were not
at war on the high seas, it became clear Mr.
Adams had some more work to do in diplomatic
missions in Europe, and so I decided to join him. I am not a fan of ships,
and crossing the Atlantic was a big, big fear for me. But I did have our
daughter Nabby by my side. Now even she had to make
a sacrifice for this trip because, well, she
had been engaged right before we were to leave. And it led to the dissolving
of that engagement in the end. Ultimately I think she
made the best decision. Royall Tyler ended up
being a terrible rake. And she met her eventual
husband, Colonel Smith, while she was in
England with us. Finally being able to
be together and enjoy some time in Europe was
quite an experience. Seeing the culture of
France and England, and our young adult
children, John Quincy and Nabby being with us. It was wonderful to feel
like a bit of a family again, though our younger
children were at home in the United
States away from us. It was incredibly
difficult, though. Something that I started
to really realize was that in order to maintain
diplomatic appearances, if you're working alongside
the courts of France and Great Britain and trying
to prove that you are a representative of
a strong new nation, you have to keep up with their
customs to a certain extent. And I can guarantee you that
our home in Massachusetts-- the furniture and
clothing and goods we had were not on par with those
of the courts of France and England. And so using John's fairly
meager salary as a diplomat, having to really stretch
the budget incredibly much so that we could dress
appropriately and host appropriately and be
deserving of our station and bringing dignity
to this new country was the utmost importance. But we did not have
the extra money-- JOHN ADAMS: No we did not. ABIGAIL ADAMS: --to
spend on extravagances. Mr. Jefferson, while
he was in Europe-- JOHN ADAMS: Lavishly-- ABIGAIL ADAMS: There-- JOHN ADAMS: --compared to us. ABIGAIL ADAMS: --entire
ships of books sent back across the Atlantic. Spent all the time. And occasionally, we would call
on him to send some goods over for us as well. He helped some shoe shipments
and things along those lines. But yes, we had to make sure we
were being very, very frugal. Another sacrifice on our part. JOHN ADAMS: Fewer servants. And we were in, I believe-- I lost count of the
rooms in that chateau-- about 40 rooms, was it not? And it was with other
members of the family. S of course before my dear
wife and my oldest daughter arrived, Charles had gone
home to further his education, so it was the four of us
in a 40-room French estate of two scandalous ladies. And the help of
course, was far less than anyone else had because
it was what we could afford. And they all did
their own tasks. ABIGAIL ADAMS: The
servants in Europe-- no one would do anything
that was not specifically in their job description. If this was the cook, she
would not wash a dish. If it was the person
tending the fires, they would not sweep the floors. And so you had to have a
massive staff of people. But this is all
besides the point. JOHN ADAMS: Indeed. We quibble. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Luckily we
were, upon our return home to North America to
Massachusetts in 1788-- well, we had been living
in these grand houses. And it's not as
if we'd developed a taste for very fine
things, but returning home to our tiny, tiny
little box of a house that we had raised our family
in was not going to work, and so we moved into
a larger building. And even then it still
seemed fairly small. And I spent most of
the next few decades, while Mr. Adams was in
Philadelphia and in New York and eventually in Washington
DC, doing some renovations on the house that would be
eventually known as Peacefield, making it a true
home for our family. But being back in
Massachusetts was unfortunately not the end of our story. We had sacrificed so
much for the nation. But by now Mr. Adams
and I both knew that if he was going to
be asked to be called on to serve in another way, you
wouldn't have it within you to turn down the offer. JOHN ADAMS: It is true. And here I was. I had just been the first
minister to Great Britain. I had met His
Majesty King George III, as had you
at the [INAUDIBLE] and kept waiting
on endless hours. But from being the first
minister to Great Britain and having the scribblers
in the newspapers not like me very much there
to returning home in 1788 to our beautiful Peacefield,
which I believe, my dear, you called a wren's house
when you first saw it, and all of those wonderful
improvements such as the parlor and the library, which was
supposed to be a surprise but ended up not being so. I was told by a neighbor. But service back to the
country, a little time of rest to become a part of
the new government. Because I finished second in
the first election, of course, to his excellency
George Washington, who would be our first president
to myself being Vice President. And what could one
imagine about that? As I have already hinted,
I got myself into trouble over titles. I had to, well,
stand over arguments between the different
factions in the Senate and preside over them and
not be able to argue a point but be a tie breaking vote. It was indeed a
thankless task, and made me wonder what being
president would be like. ABIGAIL ADAMS: And
of course, the Office of the Vice presidency
being this ever laying in waiting in case
something terrible should happen to the president. And there was at
least one occasion where Mr. Washington
took terribly ill, and it seemed for a
brief moment as if John might go from this position
of really doing nothing-- you don't do anything
as a vice president-- to becoming the most
important man in the nation. It was-- JOHN ADAMS: Not even consulted. ABIGAIL ADAMS: --quite a
frenzy and quite a fear. And when Mr.
Washington recovered, I must say I was quite
relieved that we did not have to step into that
role at that moment. However, it was still
difficult, even with you in this seat of eminence and
not having all that much to do. We were getting on
in age, and I wanted to be home in Massachusetts. We had family members
to take care of there. Again, maintaining multiple
households-- our home in Massachusetts and a home
for the vice president. You would think that he should
have a home worthy of him. But if I stayed in
Philadelphia with Mr. Adams, he would be expected
to keep a whole house. A house where people would
be invited for entertainments and parties and dinners. And if he was living more
of a bachelor lifestyle, then we could save
the money on that. And so I spent most of my time
back home in Massachusetts. And there was even
a period of time when you were
contemplating renting a room in a boarding house-- JOHN ADAMS: Indeed. Renting. ABIGAIL ADAMS: --as
the Vice President. JOHN ADAMS: Vice President
of the United States renting. ABIGAIL ADAMS: And luckily,
though, a stop was put to that. The Speaker of
the House insisted that he just stay with them. The Vice President
can't be renting a room. But of course, it was a
struggle to keep everything up to code, up to standards. And well, again, we do not
come from generational wealth. President Washington. President Jefferson. These men come from ages
and ages back of substance-- prominent families and
the money to support furnishing a fine house
worthy of a president. The money to support
building a massive library. And we really did have
to work for everything. Not to mention, I
should like to say I'm quite proud that
we stayed out of debt at the end of our lives. Unlike some of our peers. JOHN ADAMS: Others
who will not be named who did not stay out of debt. But we are a people accustomed
to working with our hands. Tending to the farm,
tending to the house, all that needed to be done, all
that needed to be mended. Watching our money. Being careful about
what we would spend. Some of the men that I met
in Philadelphia I doubt ever had to do any of this. And yet John Dickinson was
called the Pennsylvania farmer, and I doubt he even touched
a plow once in his life. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Of
course, this is a day to celebrate the Office
of the Presidency, and we've gone on and on
about your political career but have not yet touched
on your presidency, John. JOHN ADAMS: Indeed. And it still strikes a nerve,
and it has been some time since I have been in office,
but I am most proud of the fact that I kept this country neutral
and out of a war with France despite the best efforts of
some in the Federalist camp to fight that war and
some who were going to be commanding armies in the field. A certain former Secretary
of the Treasury in New York comes to mind. But know this,
that in my defeat, I put more blame
on Mr. Hamilton-- I can say his name, you see--
and the Federalists as opposed to Mr. Jefferson and his party. But when I first took office,
even before my inauguration, I reached out to Mr.
Jefferson and his friends. Mr. Jefferson and I
met with each other when we were in
Philadelphia, and of course he paid me a visit and
then I returned the favor the next day. And we were just thinking
perhaps out loud to each other when I said that
perhaps it would be for the best of our
country since we were in a-- I call a half war
with France that was inherited from the times
of President Washington. For resolution, what better
man to send to France, Mr. Jefferson, than you? But of course he was my vice
president by three votes, and detractors in the newspaper
when they started to attack me actually did not even call me
President Adams they called me the president by three votes. Or bald, toothless Adams or
such vile things as that. But I reached out
to Mr. Jefferson, but I knew his
answer would be no. As the vice president and the
head of the opposition faction, I knew he was not
going anywhere. He said he was tired
of travel in Europe. So I suggested, and here was
a thought, James Madison. Why not have those
from the Federalist camp and the Republican
camp negotiate together with this new French government
after the [FRENCH] regime was removed called the
Directory from their revolution? A very bloody one indeed. I predicted Napoleon
would take power. An emperor. But that is beyond the fact. But I reached out and
the response was cold. Mr. Madison turned me down. My own cabinet-- Secretary of State Pickering,
Secretary of War McHenry, Secretary of the
Treasury Oliver Wolcott. I served with his father. Mr. Wolcott said he
would resign if I sent Mr. Madison to France. So I informed Mr.
Jefferson of this. And of course Mr. Jefferson
told Mr. Madison and others that it appeared that
I had been reeled back in to the Federalist camp. And I knew now that my
presidency would continue certainly without
any help from my vice president and his
friends, and they would be working against me. And I would also come to find
out that my own cabinet was working against me. Only when I favored
something that they were for, such as war with
France at one point, though I reached out an olive
branch for peace as well, did they agree with me. But most of the time-- can
you imagine being president and your various department
secretaries are taking letters that you have written
to them and sending them on to Mr. Hamilton in New York,
seeking his advice as some sort of master puppeteer? Despite all of that,
despite the fact that we sent peace commissioners-- I sent John Marshall
of Virginia, one of the few
Federalists in Virginia and eventually Elbridge
Gerry of Massachusetts who was very much a man of Mr.
Jefferson's liking, but a dear old friend who I
trusted implicitly. Sending them to join
Colonel Pinckney to meet with this directory and
their foreign minister Monsieur Talleyrand, a
former Catholic Bishop who spent some time in America. And imagine my shock and
anger, and yours as well, my dear, when I
received a letter stating that they were
told to leave Paris and they would not
be treated with, but that money was expected
to be paid for the insults I had given to the French. Imagine such a thing. And yet, I still was
not ready for war. I was still thinking
peace even though I was having bills passed in
Congress for the strengthening of the army and of course,
the wooden walls of the Navy to protect our coast
and our shipping. All the while,
they were demanding money for insults to
Monsieur Talleyrand himself, to the French government. Payoffs to a government? What an outrage indeed. And yet I continued
to think of peace. And some of the
letters of this-- dare I call it XYZ affair,
since of course the agents-- we know their names. But in the letters,
they were nameless. And yet Mr. Jefferson's
friends such as Mr. Gallatin in Congress demanded
to read those letters. Imagine their surprise when the
letters were opened and decoded and read of the bribery. They were most
embarrassed indeed. There was a war footing
in this country. We were popular--
most popular indeed. And ships were
being built for war. Troops were being raised. Not the 25,000 men that Mr.
Hamilton wanted, but 10,000. But still I waited
for word for peace. And then finally,
after being told that the others had been
told to leave the capitol but Mr. Gerry could stay,
he was seen as a traitor. But then we found out
later in other dispatches that Mr. Gerry had
stayed because he was told by the French
government that if he left, there would be war. He stayed, and there was peace. There would be peace. The French did not want war. And when the final
negotiations were made-- ABIGAIL ADAMS: Too late. JOHN ADAMS: It was too late,
and I had lost that election. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Unfortunately
I fear, Mr. Adams, that your lengthy explanation
of the XYZ affair has made a few people start to doze off. So all of that is to say that
in spite of his massive efforts to keep the country and
trans-Atlantic nations in a state of peace,
unfortunately Mr. Adams was not granted a second term as
president of the United States. A blow to your vanity,
your admitted greatest sin. But thank goodness we
finally got to go home. They don't expect
you to do much else after you've been the
president and the first lady, and so we returned home
finally to our home in Quincy to Peacefield-- our house and our grounds
which we named for, of course, assisting in
the signing of the Treaty of Paris, bringing the end
of the American Revolution, and also for maintaining
peace for our early nation. But of course, even in
retirement, neither John nor I stayed out of touch
with anyone we'd developed many
friendships and alliances. Continued, both of
us, to write letters to people throughout the nation,
many of them still in office or writing important books
and histories of the period. Both of us keenly,
keenly reading for news, staying engaged. And, well, I should like
to think that it's somewhat of a family trait as well. Since joining Mr. Adams
on that first trip to France at the age
of 10, John Quincy really has taken off quite an
extraordinary political career himself. In fact, when we returned
home to Massachusetts, John Quincy didn't come with us. He was on his own being
a diplomat in Europe, eventually going to Russia
and marrying an English woman, coming home to
Massachusetts, and I think really beginning a bit
of a career of a public life of servitude himself. So we'll see what happens with
John Quincy coming along there. Now, I know that we are running
a bit short on time, and Mr. Adams and I have
spoken at length about some of the
sacrifices we've made and the ways that we've
been engaged in civic means. There might be some time for
us to take a few questions. If any of you have any
questions, what I'll ask is that you come
to the microphone at the end of the aisle
so that we can all make sure we hear you. JOHN ADAMS: Is
anyone going to ask if I stayed for Mr.
Jefferson's inauguration? I wonder. ABIGAIL ADAMS: All right,
what's your first question? AUDIENCE: Mrs. Adams, this
is a question for you. ABIGAIL ADAMS: All right. AUDIENCE: What would you
say to young ladies now? ABIGAIL ADAMS: What would
I say to young ladies now? AUDIENCE: Yeah. About life. ABIGAIL ADAMS: My goodness. Keep learning. Any of the young ladies
in the room here, do you get to go to school? Raise your hand if
you're in school. JOHN ADAMS: Hear, hear. AUDIENCE: I'm in high
school right now. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Glad to hear it. JOHN ADAMS: Education for all. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Keep learning,
keep asking questions, keep reading. And when you read something
good that interests you and gets you inspired,
share it with your friends, because then they're
going to read it too. They're going to get excited. That's how my friends and I--
we basically taught each other. I didn't get to go to school. And so we wrote letters and we
sent along books and brochures saying, I just read this. It's fantastic. Look at this novel. And we'd mail it off
to a friend and have a bit of a reading group. And that's how you
keep yourself inspired. Use that education. Don't let anybody
take it away from you. And always keep trying to learn
the things you want to learn and the things you
don't want to learn. Keep pushing yourself. That's what I'd have to say. AUDIENCE: Thank you. JOHN ADAMS: That is why I
put it in the Massachusetts Constitution. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Yes, yes. JOHN ADAMS: As its own section. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Absolutely. Oh, that's a bit tall. AUDIENCE: Mrs. Adams,
what time were you born? ABIGAIL ADAMS: What
time was I born? I'm not sure of the
time of day, but-- well actually,
interesting question. I've had two
different birthdays. The year I was born was 1744
and the day I was born in 1744 was November 11. But England and the
English colonies went through a calendar shift
when I was a young person, and basically we lost 11 days. So now my birthday
is November 22. AUDIENCE: Double birthday. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Yay! ELIZABETH MURPHY: President
and Mrs. Adams, we have a question for one of
our online viewers today. Was English always intended
to be the main language of the United States? Was another considered? JOHN ADAMS: I would say yes. But those of us who attended
places like Harvard College also learned Greek and Latin. ABIGAIL ADAMS: True. JOHN ADAMS: Indeed. Yes, sir. AUDIENCE: I have a question
for the former president. What was your brother's
opinion on you taking the court case
for the British soldiers during the Boston Massacre? Was he disappointed? Was he proud? What was his opinion on that? JOHN ADAMS: My brother? AUDIENCE: Yes, Samuel. ABIGAIL ADAMS: [INAUDIBLE] JOHN ADAMS: Indeed. And Peter as well. Well, I would say that most
were perplexed that I did so. Most people in
Boston, I would say, would be tempered
in the countryside. My family has always been
supportive of my career. They were supportive. And once I explained to
him why it had to be done, they understood even more so. They supported me. Not many did, though. When I first took the case, many
thought that it was a mistake. That we should be punishing
them to the best of our ability. And my argument was, well,
that is up to the Court of law to decide. So they supported me indeed. Thank you. AUDIENCE: Hi. My question is about your
letters to each other. Your letters to each other,
maybe hundreds or thousands, are famous for chronicling
the history of the era. So where are the letters kept? Are they kept at Peacefield? Are they kept at the
Library of Congress? Are they at the
National Archives? I don't know where they're kept. ABIGAIL ADAMS: A great deal of
the collection of our letters-- our correspondence
between the two of us and also correspondence
with John Quincy and other members
of the Adams family are held by the Massachusetts
Historical Society. JOHN ADAMS: Indeed. ABIGAIL ADAMS: And they have
a digital archive as well. And so even if you don't
go handle physical papers, you can read the words
in a more accessible way. And spelling a bit
fixed up sometimes. JOHN ADAMS: That's why I copied
so much of my correspondence-- because I just knew that
at some point someone would want to read
what we have to say. AUDIENCE: Thank you
both for being here. I have a question
for Mrs. Adams. Could you speak a
little bit about what Mr. Adams was like as a father? ABIGAIL ADAMS: Oh,
that's a good question Mr. Adams was always very
quite kind to our children. I wouldn't say-- certainly
not the coldest of fathers, but not necessarily
the warmest either. He was gone for quite
a long stretch of most of our children's upbringing. So unfortunately, especially
for our younger boys-- for Tommy and for Charles
there were long stretches of times when they
didn't know their father. Even until he came
back from England, they were young men
already at that point. But you were always
very concerned with the quality of
education they would have. JOHN ADAMS: Letter
after letter I wrote. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Even
when he was distant, Mr. Adams would write
constantly about the things he wanted to make sure
the boys were studying and how their tutors were
being checked in on and how-- everything that they could. Not every single detail
of their education. I did have to make some
real-time decisions in there. But he was very concerned
with their education except when it came to Nabby. Nabby tried. She tried to get a little bit
of that more formal education under her belt. She took a
few lessons from the tutors and tried to learn
a bit of Latin. And Mr. Adams wrote home
that was in his esteem not something Nabby should be
spending her time on as far as pursuits where she
should be learning more. I know. Not my favorite opinion of his. But Mr. Adams was the one in
charge firmly of the education of the children, and so I
tried to make sure Nabby got other experiences. And bringing her
to Europe certainly was an eye-opener for
her and a way for her to get some of that education
and that culture as well. JOHN ADAMS: And I did spend
time with John Quincy in France, as we know. And of course, is this not
an educational meeting? ABIGAIL ADAMS: I think so. JOHN ADAMS: I
believe that it is. And it has been our pleasure-- ABIGAIL ADAMS: Absolutely. JOHN ADAMS: --to join you
in conversation regarding the education of our children
and what the future holds for them, and just to meet
and greet with you and talk. And come visit us next
door if you have a mind. And thank you all for listening
to what we have to say today. Thank you for having us. ABIGAIL ADAMS: Certainly. [APPLAUSE] JOHN ADAMS: Madam, shall we?
