Introduction

On March 31, 1776, before the Declaration of Independence had been written, Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband, John Adams, a lawyer and delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses. In this letter, she urged her husband to ensure that Congress codified greater legal rights for women. “I desire you would Remember the Ladies,” she wrote, “and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

The American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, and, eventually, the creation of a new form of government under the Constitution created a new world of possibilities. The quest for liberty emboldened marginalized groups to see their own pursuit of liberty and justice, and they actively debated and questioned how to build a society built not on a monarchy, but on principles of Republicanism. In this new society, it seemed possible that everyone could have a voice.

—Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, March 31, 1776, in her call for emancipation of enslaved people.