By Ariel
Ky
On this
President’s Day of 2018, I would like to remember Martha Washington and Abigail
Adams, the capable wives of George Washington and John Adams, our first and second
presidents. Although Martha Washington didn’t care all that much for the public
life she shared with George Washington, she did all that she could to support
him.
Martha Washington is remembered for her strength of character, “I am
determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself.
For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is
determined not by our circumstance, but by our disposition.”
As the very first First Lady of the United States, Martha Washington served in many roles which
contributed to the founding of this country. She actively raised funds to support the
soldiers in the Continental Army. She wrote to the wives of all the colonial
governors and asking them to encourage the women of their colonies to sew and
gather necessary supplies for the soldiers, and also to give money in their
support.
She visited the troops at Valley Forge, comforting
the soldiers, bringing them socks and food when they were freezing and
starving. Martha Washington entertained diplomats and held social events for guests,
instituting Thursday formal dinners and Friday public receptions when the couple lived in New York, and continuing with this tradition in Philadelphia.
Martha Washington also befriended Abigail Adams, wife
of then Vice-President John Adams, who became the second President of the
United States. Abigail Adams is remembered for her correspondence with her
husband, particularly the letter
dated March 31, 1776, when she urged him and the other members of the
Continental Congress not to forget about the nation’s women when fighting for
America’s independence from Great Britain.
“I long to hear that you have
declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I
suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the
ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not
put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men
would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to
the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves
bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
The only U.S. currency that ever carried the image of a woman on it was a U.S. dollar
bill, first printed in 1886 and again ten years later, in 1896, with the images
of both Martha and George Washington facing each other. There were also stamps which depicted
Martha Washington, first an eight cent stamp issued in 1902-03, followed by a four
cent stamp in 1923. And last, a 1½ cent stamp for greeting cards that was first
issued in 1938, and used into the late 1950s.
There is also a 1986
commemorative stamp of Abigail Adams, and a $10 dollar gold coin minted in 2007
with her image stamped on it (kept in reserve and never circulated).
