Fuck You, David Mccullough. Abby wasn’t joking.

I can’t give you the specific page, since I’m at the dorms and my copy of "John Adams" by David Mccullough is at home, but I just rediscovered something that pissed me off about that book. It’s actually the sole reason I stopped reading it — the simple statement lost all my respect for Mccullough as a writer and author.

Now in writing a book about John Adams, Abigail Adams is bound to come up. They’re like peanut butter and jelly — you can’t mention one without mentioning the other. Anyway, in the book the famous ‘remember the ladies’ line is mentioned.

Mccullough quickly says that Abigail Adams didn’t really mean that she wanted rights for women — he says that she was joking.

Actually, I’ve found several websites saying that she was joking. Was she? I don’t believe she was. Yes she might’ve realized that it wasn’t likely to happen, but was it a joke? No! Wishful thinking? Maybe. But I’m sure she wasn’t laughing. After all, she was a strong, intelligent woman who was literally running a household and a farm at the same time while her husband was away, a husband she wasn’t just a wife to, but an equal to in terms of mind?

Abby wasn’t joking. Don’t suggest she was. By saying she was joking, one can dismiss her intelligence and ferocity, and somehow make her more "feminine" or docile. By saying she was joking, you can undermine how political women were then. By saying she was joking, one gives the upperhand to John Adams in that marriage, when so much evidence points to them considering each other their equal.

I really don’t understand why Abigail Adams would mention in so many letters, both to her husband and other people, that women should get a slice of the independance pie. She wasn’t a comedian. She wasn’t spreading a good joke. She was expressing her (practical) opinions. Deal with it, Mr. Mucculough. Maybe you should write a biography on someone other than men.