Ep. 92 | JOHN ADAMS - Abigail Adams and Revolutionary Friendships
JOHN ADAMS (2008)
Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti as Abigail and John Adams in the 2008 HBO series JOHN ADAMS Photo: HBO
Ep. 92 is also available on Apple Podcast | YouTube | iHeartThe 6th podcast in the Revolution to Rights: America at 250series (Episode 92) turns to the American Revolution and its impact on gender roles and political agency. This podcast spotlights the 2008 HBO miniseries JOHN ADAMS, which won 13 Emmy Awards and features Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams.
The Boston Sisters talk with historians Cassandra Good (author, Founding Friendships), and Sara Georgini (series editor for The Papers of John Adams at the Massachusetts Historical Society) about the friendship and correspondence between John and Abigail Adams, and Abigail's influence through “mixed-sex” friendships. The conversation also turns to the Adams Family's papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society and the complexities of Abigail's relationships, including her friendship with Thomas Jefferson, and the challenges of women's political power in early America.
“In American society a man and woman could not be legally equal. But within a friendship there’s more equality between a man and a woman than in probably any other relationship between men and women at this time. ”
“With Abigail [Adams], we have an extremely eloquent political thinker. We have someone who finds ways to contribute to that sphere without voting in an age of coverture.”
REVOLUTION TO RIGHTS: AMERICA AT 250
Episode 92 is part of REVOLUTION TO RIGHTS: AMERICA AT 250, a 10-episode podcast series from Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters® that takes you on a journey through America’s 250-year history of advancing freedom and justice since the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
GUESTS
Cassandra Good
Cassandra Good is a writer and historian focused on politics, gender, and culture in early America. An associate professor at Marymount University, she received her PhD in history from the University of Pennsylvania. Her first book, Founding Friendships: Friendships Between Men and Women in the Early American Republic, was published with Oxford University Press in 2015. It received the Organization of American Historian’s Mary Jurich Nickliss Prize for the best book in women’s and/or gender history in 2016. Her most recent book, First Family: George Washington’s Heirs and the Making of America, was published by Hanover Square in 2023. It was a finalist for the 2024 George Washington Prize and the Library of Virginia’s Reader’s Choice Awards. She is also the author of numerous popular and scholarly articles as well as two The Great Courses/Audible.com programs, America's Founding Women and Early American Sex Scandals. Her work has been supported by a variety of institutions, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institution, and Mount Vernon.
Connect with Cassandra Good: Website | Instagram | Bluesky @cgoodhistorian.bsky.social (sign-in required to view profile)
SARA GEORGINI
Sara Georgini is series editor for The Papers of John Adams, part of the Adams Papers editorial project based at the Massachusetts Historical Society, where she has worked for nearly two decades. She is the author of Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family (Oxford, 2019) and the forthcoming Our Library in Paris (Oxford, 2027), as well as editor of The Oxford Handbook of Family History and Genealogy (Oxford, 2027), and co-editor of Americans in Revolution: New Intellectual Histories (UVA Press, 2027). As a historical editor, she publishes authoritative editions of the founders’ words; leads student and teacher workshops; curates manuscripts and artifacts in thematic exhibits like “1776: Declaring Independence;” and brings Adams expertise (spanning three centuries) to broad audiences in person and online.
Connect with Sara Georgini: Bluesky @sarageorgini.bsky.social | LinkedIn
USE YOUR POWER!
The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) “Can I vote?” website is a resource to…
Check your voting status
Find your polling place
Register to vote
This nonpartisan website was created by state election officials to help eligible voters figure out how and where to go vote. Can I Vote does not capture any information, but instead links directly to state election websites and trusted resources. Source: NASS
TAKE A DEEPER DIVE INTO THIS PODCAST!
Visit our affiliate bookstore REVOLUTION TO RIGHTS bookshelf for books about the historic quest for freedom for all people in the U.S. We’ve included books by our guests and their recommendations mentioned in this podcast:
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed; Jefferson’s Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, by Catherine Kerrison; and Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution by Ronald Angelo Johnson.
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JOHN ADAMS
JOHN ADAMS (2008) “A Closer Look” HBO
Based on David McCollough’s Pulitzer prize-winning biography of the second President of the United States, the miniseries JOHN ADAMS depicts the extraordinary life journey of one of the primary shapers of America’s independence and government. Fiercely independent, brilliant, and brutally honest, John Adams is one of America's least understood, and most underestimated, founders.
The series features Paul Giamatti in the title role and Laura Linney as Adams’s wife Abigail, an intelligent, wise, and resourceful confidant. From their domestic and personal space, friendship and correspondence, John and Abigail Adams laid the foundation for the founding of a new nation. The cast also includes David Morse as George Washington, Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson, Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin, Rufus Sewell as Alexander Hamilton, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as John Quincy Adams, Caroline Corrie as Louisa Adams, Andrew Scott as William S. Smith, Madeline Taylor as Nabby Adams, Mamie Gummer as Sally Smith Adams, and Tom Hollander as King George III.
JOHN ADAMS is executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. The series is directed by Tom Hooper, with script by Kirk Ellis and Michelle Ashford.
JOHN ADAMS is available on HBO Max (official website) and other streaming platforms. Also, check your local library.
Abigail and John Adams’s Revolutionary Friendships
Mercy Otis Warren
Mercy Otis Warren was a patriot poet, playwright, satirst, and pamphleteer during the American Revolution. Her writings denounced key British policies and officials in Massachuetts. (Portrait by John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Mercy and Abigail are able to come back together after the death of Mercy's husband, James, and I think that is a really powerful kind of moment, because what brings them back together is not just a loss, but also this kind of shared revolutionary moment that they experienced together. Like there's a an understanding that there will always be politics, but they were part of something bigger. When they reunite, they trade this incredible jewelry. It's a ring in a brooch that is made of gold seed pearl and hair.
Sara Georgini
James Lovell’s signature
James Lovell was a Boston educator and patriot. He was elected and served as a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress from 1777-1782. James Lovell was one of the first to sign the Articles of Confederation, the first written Constitution of the United States adopted by the Continental Congress November 15, 1777. It was in force from March 1, 1781, until 1789 when the present-day Constitution went into effect. (Source: NARA)
With John Adams gone for many years during the Revolution, she (Abigail Adams) has several other male friends in Massachusetts…James Lovell is really interesting because they don't actually hang out in person at -- almost at all…. It's really correspondence and letters. He's in Philadelphia at the Continental Congress, and so he's able to get her information. And so she values that. But he's also clearly flirting with her.
Cassandra Good
Read a letter from James Lovell to Abigail Adams (Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society)
