Born Weymouth, Massachusetts First Lady 1797–1801
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 frame the new nation’s institutions. Always outspoken, Adams struggled to suppress her opinions when her husband served as president. This portrait of Adams reveals her elegant and sophisticated comportment. She wears both an imported lace fichu over her bodice and an elaborately patterned scarf of Indian origin about her shoulders, demonstrating her cosmopolitan taste.
Collection of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York; bequest from the Estate of Frances J. Eggleston, Oswego, New York