[The following essay discusses John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams.]

John Adams's travels extended from his journey in August 1774 to Philadelphia, where he spent much of the next two and a half years as a member of the Continental Congress, through his years as a diplomat in Paris, Holland, and Great Britain, to his final return to his beloved Pens Hill in Braintree, Massachusetts, in June 1788. During these fourteen years he made his mark as a prominent statesman and helped establish the place of the newly independent United States in the world. The letters he exchanged with his wife, Abigail, during his time away from home rank with the great American literary correspondences. Both correspondents were remarkable individuals.

Descendant of a family that went back to the early days of Massachusetts, including a maternal ancestor from Plymouth colony, John Adams was the first to bring his family...