Abigail Adams' 'Remember the Ladies' Letter Misunderstood for 250 Years

What Happened On March 31, 1776, as the Continental Congress debated independence, Abigail Adams penned what would become her most quoted correspondence. Writing to her husband John Adams, she urged him to “remember the ladies” as he helped draft America’s new laws. But according to new historical analysis marking the letter’s 250th anniversary, this iconic phrase has been fundamentally misunderstood by generations of Americans. The letter, written during the height of revolutionary fervor, wasn’t an anachronistic demand for women’s voting rights.