Summary Of Abigail Adam's Letter To Her Husband

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In a letter to her husband, Abigail Adam demands more liberty for women and slaves. The “unlimited power” that she refers in her letter is based on laws and policies that had undermined the rights and freedom of women; such policies are coverture and dower rights. In coverture, upon marriage, a woman’s legal rights and obligations are subsumed by her husband, as a result, she could not own property or sign contracts in her own name; she can’t control her wages or seek a divorce. Based on dower rights a wife can receive one-third of the husband’s property in the case he dies. In eighteenth century, women had to hire a lawyer as a spokesman in court. All these laws that brought to colonies from England had limited women’s rights, and left them