Abigail Adams

Abigail Smith Adams challenged social and political limitations by advocating for women’s rights, education, and the abolition of slavery. She readily expressed her opinions in letters to her husband, John Adams, by reminding him to “Remember the Ladies” as he helped to establish the new nation’s institutions. Always outspoken, Adams struggled to suppress her opinions when her husband served as president. Adams and her husband retired to Quincy, Massachusetts, at the close of his presidential term in 1800. This hollow-cut silhouette was probably made in October 1804 when the artist Raphaelle Peale stayed with the Adamses while traveling along the eastern seaboard in search of sitters for profile portraits. The inscription and date were added in 1809 by John Quincy Adams when he grouped a number of family members’ silhouettes together in one frame.