Adams wrote to John Adams weeks before the Declaration of Independence that they should not ignore women and they could hold a rebellion in the case that they are given no rights and representation - similar to that of why the American Revolution was fought against Britain. Adams detested the idea that married women had to give away their rights to their husbands - single women could own property but she could not. She secretly set aside some of her husband’s property as her own - and slowly saved her “pocket money” to be $5,000 ($100,000 today). Wrote a will in 1816 when she realized she was dying (even though she legally could not own property) - apart from her two sons, everyone who she gave her money to were women. Despite the legality of her actions of writing a will and distributing her husband’s wealth, her sons and John Adams honored her requests and sent the money to all the women she listed. By doing this, they basically affirmed that “the money was hers to give”. …show more content…
In fact, she was better at handling his money due to her willingness to take risk. In letters she told John Adams to “Remember the Ladies” and provide more rights to them compared to what past generations gave them. Also, she brought up the idea that while fighting against the British’s absolute power over the colonies, men still maintained keeping power over their wives. Very early, women had very few rights (especially property rights). Leaders of America after the revolution believed that citizens needed to be moral and intelligent to be able to vote - must benefit the country. Mothers raised children and gave them morals and values - this was their responsibility - to the next generation. Republican Motherhood - women must uphold certain morals so as to not corrupt their children and future voters who would be in charge of the