";s:4:"text";s:3637:"From the time she was a young woman, Abigail accompanied her mother on these visits and put into practice the lessons her father taught her about helping those who were less fortunate.Abigail Adams brought more intellect and ability to the position of first lady of the United States than any other woman. The young couple moved into the house John had inherited from his father in Braintree (today a part of the National Park Service, Adams National Historical Park) and began their life together.In 1774 John went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a delegate to the First Continental Congress where America made its first legislative moves toward forming a government independent of Great Britain. "Nabby," as she was called, was followed by John Quincy Adams on July 11, 1767, Susanna (who died just after her first year), Charles, and Thomas Boylston.In the spring of the following year, John Adams moved his family to Boston because his work was located there. The acts proved very unpopular, with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison leading the protest against them. "Today, nearly two centuries after Abigail's death, her legacy survives in the letters she wrote, which chronicle this important period of history. In reality Abigail disagreed with her husband's stand of neutrality, but people believed she was setting his policies and this weakened John Adams politically. He subsequently remained in Europe from 1778 to 1787, through a succession of different appointments, except for a three-month rest at home during which time he drafted the Massachusetts Constitution. During the course of the next twelve years as John Adams served two terms as vice president (1789-1797) and one term as president (1797-1801), he and Abigail moved back and forth between the new home they bought in Braintree (the "Old House") and the successive political capitals of the United States: New York, Philadelphia, and then Washington, D.C. Abigail was aware of the importance of these events and took her son John Quincy to the top of Penn's Hill near their farm to witness the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775.Abigail also learned a great deal during her frequent stays with her grandfather Colonel John Quincy, who was one of the most important citizens in the colony of Massachusetts. John agreed with his wife and in June 1776 was appointed to a committee of five men to prepare a Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Abigail's lifelong enjoyment of philosophy, theology, ancient history, government, and law, which was championed by her grandmother and other relatives, helped both Abigail and the young American nation chart a new course.