Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 41605-h.htm or 41605-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41605/41605-h/41605-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41605/41605-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://archive.org/details/abigailadamshert00rich ABIGAIL ADAMS AND HER TIMES * * * * * Books By Laura E. Richards Abigail Adams and Her Times Pippin Elizabeth Fry Florence Nightingale Mrs. Tree Mrs. Tree's Will Miss Jimmy The Wooing of Calvin Parks Journals and Letters of Samuel Gridley Howe Two Noble Lives Captain January A Happy Little Time When I Was Your Age Five Minute Stories In My Nursery The Golden Windows The Silver Crown The Joyous Story of Toto The Life of Julia Ward Howe _With Maud Howe Elliott, etc., etc._ * * * * * [Illustration: ABIGAIL ADAMS From an original painting by Gilbert Stuart] ABIGAIL ADAMS AND HER TIMES by LAURA E. RICHARDS Author of "Elizabeth Fry, the Angel of the Prisons," "Florence Nightingale, the Angel of the Crimea," etc. [Illustration] Illustrated D. Appleton and Company New York London 1917 Copyright, 1917, by D. Appleton and Company Printed in the United States of America TO THE HONORED MEMORY OF FRANKLIN BENJAMIN SANBORN THE FRIEND OF MY PARENTS AND OF MY CHILDREN; TO THREE GENERATIONS A FAITHFUL, AFFECTIONATE, AND BELOVED COUNSELLOR. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. BEGINS AT THE BEGINNING 1 II. GIRLHOOD AND MARRIAGE 24 III. THE BOSTON MASSACRE 40 IV. THE BOSTON TEA PARTY 60 V. AFTER LEXINGTON 88 VI. BOSTON BLOCKADE 112 VII. IN HAPPY BRAINTREE 124 VIII. INDEPENDENCE AT LAST 142 IX. MR. ADAMS ABROAD 181 X. THE COURT OF ST. JAMES 197 XI. VEXATIOUS HONORS 231 XII. AFTERNOON AND EVENING 260 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Abigail Adams _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE Abigail Adams 36 John Adams 188 South Elevation of the President's House 252