Mrs. Adams opens up the dialogue on women’s rights almost quietly. She never once directly tells him to do his best to give women equal right. The entire letter does point to that, do not get me wrong. But, for the most part she does take a relatively submissive stance on the issue. Her most direct being “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.” She does go on to say that, men are “Naturally Tyrannical” and should give up their pretense of superiority over women and instead embrace equality. John Adams’ reply: At first glance, I thought he was blowing her off, and then I realized he was not. In fact he says that women, in practice not theory, are the masters of men, “in Practice[,] you know[,] We are the subjects.” Of course, he also says that he could not help but laugh at her letter, and that she is “so saucy”. He effectively says that the nation is already in turmoil and that it was not time for a full-blown women’s rights movement.
In all I felt that Mrs. And Mr. Adams missed each other, this was conveyed in their light (but partially hidden) banter. And that they both agreed that women did deserve rights just as men did.
“On the Equality of the Sexes” (1790) By Judith Murray
To sum it up, Ms. Murray is upset that women are not treated equally. She lightly suggests that men are not only not superior to women but might in fact be inferior. She says the only reason why men know more about science then women on average is because of the way they are educated (something I wholeheartedly agree with).
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