'Founding Mothers' Helps Kids 'Remember The Ladies'
On women's political lives during the Revolution
I think that we think women were sitting around tending to the tatting or pouring tea, and it's our view of first ladies too and it's all wrong. These were very, very politically passionate women. Their letters are full of politics and they were utterly devoted to the patriot cause.
Abigail Adams at, one point, wrote to John Adams, "You know we women are really better patriots than you men are, because we are suffering all of the hardships and making all of the sacrifices for the cause. And if we win, you men will be held in high acclaim and hold office, and we won't even be able to vote. So we're better patriots." John had sense enough to agree with her.
On Abigail Adams telling her husband to "remember the ladies"
Related NPR Stories
The Salt
Thomas Jefferson's Vegetable Garden: A Thing Of Beauty And Science