Abigail Adams: life of the week

Remember the ladies. So wrote Abigail Adams to her husband John Adams in 1776, as he helped to frame the laws of a newly independent United States of America. Women, she famously reminded him, should be included in the nation building too. As the wife of a founding father in early American history, Abigail was able to push beyond the restrictions of many of her sex in the 18th century, influencing policy and advocating for those in society who often didn't have a voice. These actions have sometimes seen her remembered as a proto-feminist in the story of the US.

But how true is this reputation? And what other strides was she able to make? In this Life of the Week episode of the History Extra podcast, we're joined by historian and writer Laura Camoy to consider the life of Abigail, the subject of Laura's new historical novel co-authored with Stephanie Dre, A Founding Mother. She was speaking to Eleanor Evans. Laura, thank you so much for joining us on the History Extra podcast today.

It's a real pleasure to be chatting to you this spring and especially in such a momentous year for US history. You've written with your co-author Stephanie Dre about Thomas Jefferson's daughter Patsy and Eliza Hamilton, the wife of Alexander. Can you tell me what led you next to Abigail and how you've approached her story together? Well, Abigail Adams has long been a huge inspiration to me personally. When writing our novels

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (35 minutes, 5,466 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 5 episodes for $3.49, and monthly plans are cheaper still.