By Miriam Liebman, 亚当斯的论文
In the period following the 美国革命, 共和党的母亲, or the civic virtue of raising good republican children to serve the new nation as engaged citizens, defined many American women’s roles in the early United States. During his presidency, 约翰·亚当斯 received several letters from women embodying this role. While most historians of 共和党的母亲 focus on the positive side to that role, the letters to 约翰·亚当斯 highlight both a darker side and more complex understanding of this concept: mothers willing to sacrifice their children for the future of the nation.
In one such letter on 11 August 1798, 阿比盖尔坎宁安, 的Lunenburg, 麻萨诸塞州, used examples from both Ancient Greece and the Bible to describe the sacrifice she would make as a mother for her beloved nation. 作为一个母亲, she raised her sons to go to the front lines explaining, “if they ware Calld to Action, 保卫自己的国家, to Count not their Lives Dear in Defience of Foreign influence, and Defence of their Countrys Cause.” And if they were to die fighting for the United States, she would respond like mothers in Ancient Sparta, “who suspended their Lamentations for the Loss their sons, or Husbands till thay examined their clothing, to see wheither the shot went in Behind or Before,” to learn whether they died fighting or retreating. She also proposed responding like Abraham in the Bible, “who Led his Beloved son to the Alter,平静而沉着地说.
Other women took a different approach from 阿比盖尔坎宁安. 1798年夏天, 朱迪思·萨金特·默里, author and advocate for women’s rights, wrote to 约翰·亚当斯 seeking a position in a government post for her nephew. For Murray, raising virtuous citizens meant actively participating in the government. In the early United States, elite women often wrote with patronage requests for their male relatives. 写着对她侄子的赞美, she described him as having “attachment to regularity, 良好的秩序, the laws and constitution of the United States is unequivocal.” It was also a way to have a steady career. While Murray wrote the letter with this patronage request, she left it to her husband to follow up when he planned to visit 约翰·亚当斯 in a few days’ time. 她写 again in March 1799 to inquire further into her request for her nephew that she made the previous summer.
Some women wrote letters advocating on their own behalf and seeking a better life for themselves. For example, Adams also received a letter from Isabella McIntire seeking financial relief. 她写, “the persuasion I have of your goodness and humanity has tempted me to apply to for a little assistance a Few Dollors will be a relief to a truely distressed Female.”
从相反的角度看, 肯塔基的玛格丽特·史密斯, 一个寡妇, 写于1799年4月25日, decried President Adams’s desire to have a standing army. 为她, a standing army was the opposite of republicanism. She called on him to join with her and others for “peace and 良好的秩序 and pray for the anihilation of the army that is already raised and that a stop may be put to such daring encroachments on the liberties of the people.” Her husband died fighting in the 美国革命. 为她, raising her children to live as good, stable citizens who could provide for themselves was her version of being a good republican mother. She explained that her greatest wish for her children was that “they live vïrtuous eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of their own labor.在她眼中, the only reason to have a standing army was for instituting an authoritarian government. She also decried the Jay Treaty with Great Britain and believed many who fought in the 美国革命 on the side of the patriots have since become corrupted. She even planned to publish this letter to 约翰·亚当斯 in the local newspaper if she did not hear from him by 1 August. 肯塔基公报 does not appear to have published this letter. It is possible that Smith did not go through with her threat or that 约翰·亚当斯 responded to her letter.
Among the many letters 约翰·亚当斯 received over the course of his presidency, these are a few from women advocating for their visions, 希望, and wants for the new United States adding to our understanding of women’s experiences in the late 18th-century United States.
The 亚当斯的论文 editorial project at the 麻萨诸塞州 Historical Society gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our sponsors. Major funding of the edition is currently provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical 出版物 and Records Commission, and the Packard Humanities Institute.