My Dearest Friend

Letters of Abigail and John Adams

With a Foreword by Joseph J. Ellis

Edited by Margaret A. Hogan and C. James Taylor

    Foreword by Joseph J. Ellis

    Introduction

    Note to the Reader and Acknowledgments

    Courtship and Marriage

    "Love Sweetens Life": October 1762-July 1774

    "The Decisive Day Is Come": August 1774-December 1775

    Independence

    "We Are Determined to Foment a Rebelion": January-October 1776

    "Kind Providence Has Preserved to Me a Life": January-November 1777

    The Years Abroad

    "I Cast My Thoughts Across the Atlantick": February 1778-April 1782

    "A Signal Tryumph": July 1782-March 1788

    A New Government

    "The Most Insignificant Office": December 1788-January 1794

    "This Whirligig of a World": February 1794-December 1795

    The First Couple

    "I Am Heir Apparent": January 1796-January 1797

    "The Chief Majestracy of a Nation": February 1797-February 1801

    Epilogue: The Death of Abigail

    Chronology

    Index

  • Cover: My Dearest Friend
  • A photo of the author

Photo of Margaret A. Hogan by Mary Kate Anderson

Margaret A. Hogan is Managing Editor of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

C. James Taylor is Editor in Chief of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society.