How did Abigail Adams feel about Jefferson?
Carol Berkin: Abigail was a good “hater”; when she believed someone had been unfair or damaging to her husband, her fierce loyalty to John prompted a determined anger and hatred in her. When the break came with Jefferson over national politics, I think Abigail fueled the fire of John’s anger. Douglas Ambrose: Although Adams and Jefferson developed their relationship in Philadelphia in 1775-1776, when Abigail was back in Braintree, she played a rather large role in the 1780s, when the Adamses were in Paris and then London and Jefferson was in Paris. She impressed Jefferson with both her intellect and her heart, caring at times for the widowed Jefferson’s daughters. After she and John had moved to London, she characteristically wrote to Jefferson “that nothing would give more pleasure to your friends here than a visit from you, and in that number I claim the honor of subscribing myself.” Yet she fully supported John during the years when he and Jefferson did not correspond. Her famous ex
