Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 18 March 1797
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Writing from their home in Quincy, Massachusetts, Abigail Adams replied to her husband John Adams's 5 March 1797 letter recounting his presidential inauguration. She reported that she had read a copy of his inaugural address, "which I think well calculated to do great Good." She approved of the former president's attendance at her husband's ceremony: "I think Gen'll Washington judged right in giving weight to the solemnity by his presence it will not fail to add Luster to the transaction in the Eyes of all Foreign Nations and be honorable to his successor."
Further Reading
See an online presentation of a transcription of this letter within the digital collection, Adams Electronic Archive, http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/doc?id=L17970318aa.
The annotated transcription of this letter is available in Adams Family Correspondence. Ed. by Sara Martin, C. James Taylor, Neal E. Millikan, Amanda A. Mathews, Hobson Woodward, Sara B. Sikes, Gregg L. Lint, Sara Georgini. Vol. 12, 1797-1798. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015. See pages 38–40.