Posted on 10/28/2018 12:24:27 PM PDT by Borges
Abigail Adams, best known for her articulate writing and her involvement in the presidency of her husband, John, is the subject of a yearlong commemoration by the Massachusetts Historical Society that begins Sunday with a walking tour that explores the Adams familys presence in Boston.
Its a long walking tour, but its a really fun one, said Nancy Haywood, a lead guide for the two-hour excursion. Its a nice way to really explore the city and learn more about this significant family.
The tour, organized by Boston By Foot, runs just two times annually, but this year, with the 200th anniversary of Abigails death being Sunday, the tour is running once again, this time with some added emphasis on Abigail and her legacy, Haywood said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
I will always love her because she was the first, First Lady to truly understand that the ‘home’ she was temporarily living in BELONGED to, ‘We The People.’ She threw some great parties for Everyday People. :)
“Salt Peter, Abigail!” “Pins, John!” (1776)
I was just reading something the other day about John and Abigail’s close relationship and letters.
Sounds like a neat tour.
A people who do not understand their past are ill-equipped to understand, and deal wisely, with their present and their posterity's future.
The colonists who came through danger to these shores in the 17th Century understood what lack of religious freedom meant; they understood what it was like for themselves and their kin to labor and have the fruits of their labors confiscated; they had understood the denigration associated with not being able to express deeply-held convictions and religious beliefs; and they longed to be free from the burdens of oppressive government.
At any rate, they came to America, and without any government in that vast wilderness to command them, to advise them, to restrict them, they played out their role in what has been called "the making of America," or, by others, "the miracle of America."
Just think of it: from 1620 or so until 1775, individual colonists who survived the harsh conditions in their new land had established an economy that was feeding the Old World.
If any do not believe that, they have not read Edmund Burke's Speech of Conciliation . . . delivered before the British Parliament in 1775.
Every Democrat and Republic leader today needs to read Burke's summary of the unheard-of economic achievements of that British Colony known as "the Americans."
What does all this have to do with Trump and the reluctant Republicans and the resistant Democrats?
Well, if they understood how and what the Years 1775 and 1776 meant, and how that band of strangers in a relatively new society dealt with the situation they found themselves in, and how they responded to courageous and outspoken fellow citizens who appealed to their love and desire for individual freedom and prosperity, then perhaps we could break this cultish and stupid ideology which self-identifies as being "Progressive," when, in fact, it is the most oppressive ideology to take root in the minds of American citizens! It is so oppressive that if allowed to continue, such authoritarian and group-think control will destroy the Constitutional Republic the men and women of 1776 and 1787 left to us and all of humanity.
"Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. - John Adams, letter to Abigail, his wife
When I was a child I loved listening to the stories my mother would tell me about our family’s history of escaping English soldiers coming after our ancestors in Ireland. Apparently the King had sent his men after them and had given the order to arrest them and take them back to England. When my ancestors were told the soldiers were coming they left their dinner on the table and fled. There was a ship docked and waiting for them. The ship’s name was the Speedwell, the ship that followed the Mayflower. My mom, God rest her sole, had a locket one of the women had worn around her neck throughout her journey. Touching that small piece of silver was a very powerful, tangible connection to our past. I have shared my mom’s stories with my own daughter, in an attempt to give her some appreciation of what her ancestors went through to give her a better life.
“Just think of it: from 1620 or so until 1775, individual colonists who survived the harsh conditions in their new land had established an economy that was feeding the Old World.”
How the heck did they do all that without a Government safety net???/sarcasm;)
Goosebumps.
You are very blessed.
One of the few whom John Adams considered his intellectual equal.
The mansion here in town is the lat place Abigail stayed before joining John at the White House.
Theirs is one of the great love stories. Someone ought to make a movie of it.
I loved 1776 first saw it on stage when I was 14!
I bought the original Broadway cast recording. William Daniels was a fabulous John Adams and I loved Virginia Vestoff as Abigail.
I loved the scene when the saltpetre was finally delivered to Adams. Abigail sang to her husband:
Compliments of the Concord Ladies Coffee Club
And the Sisterhood of the Turo Synagogue
And The Friday Evening Baptist Sewing Circle
And the Holy Christian Sisters of St. Claire
All for you, John!
I am, as I ever was and ever shall be,
Yours, yours, yours,yours, yours!!
I still have the lyrics memorized after all these years. :0)
Theirs is one of the great love stories. Someone ought to make a movie of it.How about a mini-series?
I have to dust off the DVD and watch 1776 again. I first fell in love with the music then saw the movie. William Daniels made a very handsome John Adams. I’m born and raised Bay-Stater so Adams is one of my favorite presidents along with Trump and Reagan. I was thrilled to discover a distant family connection to John and Abigail on both my maternal and paternal side of the family tree. We are distant cousins.
John Adams made one essential contribution to our Republic -- he was the poor bastard who followed George Washington. That isn't the only reason Adams was a one-termer, but The General was a tough act to follow. That's all the snark I'm putting in the ping, unless one counts that link down there.
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