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Introduction

Written in response to John’s first letters from France, this letter finds Abigail Adams offering reassurance and encouragement from home. It answers John’s reflections on distance and isolation, emphasizing constancy, family news, and the sustaining power of shared purpose despite separation.

Letter Text

Your letter by the last conveyance gave me much satisfaction, as it relieved my anxiety respecting your health and safety. I rejoice that you are arrived in France, though I lament the distance which separates you from your family and friends. Yet I trust that the importance of the service in which you are engaged will reconcile you to many inconveniences, and that you will meet with that support and success which your abilities and integrity deserve.

At home we pursue the same steady course of patience and perseverance which circumstances require. The children are well, and I endeavor to impress upon them the value of industry, economy, and virtue, convinced that these qualities are essential to happiness in every station of life. Though the times are trying, I do not repine, but endeavor to submit cheerfully to what Providence has allotted us, hoping that our present sacrifices may contribute to the future peace and prosperity of our country.

HAL 1776 Commentary

This letter balances emotional reassurance with moral resolve, reinforcing Abigail Adams’s role as the steady anchor of the family during John’s long absences abroad. Her emphasis on virtue, patience, and education reflects values she viewed as inseparable from republican success. Within the series, the exchange illustrates how diplomacy overseas and discipline at home were mutually reinforcing elements of the revolutionary cause.

Source

Founders Online, National Archives.
Abigail Adams to John Adams, 17 March 1778.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-03-02-0068