p.m. and midnight eastern. next, historian joseph ellis leads a talk on the early revolutionary war through the letters of john and abigail adams. this class is at amherst college. this is part 2 of a two-part lecture. prof. ellis: we last saw abigail adams giving birth to four children, five really. over a 12 year period. the question i asked you is, how should we assess her role in the coming of the american revolution? to what extent is it sexist or just the opposite of that, to call attention to the fact that the dominant events in her life are biological, rather than, political? if you are someone who wants to be true to the experience of women at this time, does that mean you are going to be not interested in the political story? the political story for them is about a lot of things. you know what i m getting at here. a couple of comments, if we possibly can. yes? where are you from, maryellen? student: west chicago, 30 miles west of chicago. prof. ellis: that is really
should be assessed her role in the coming of the american revolution? sexist ortent is it just the opposite of that to call attention to the fact that the dominant event in her life are biological rather than political. someone who wants to be true to the experience of women at this time, does that mean that you are going to be not interested in the political story? that the political story for them is the biological story. you know what i m getting at here. a couple of comments on this if we possibly can. yes. where are you from? west chicago. 30 miles west of the city of chicago. that is really west. i think in the book parlor politics she was a student of mine. that make sense, why i enjoyed the book. tell us what that is. it basically about how people like abigail adams and martha washington were working in other venues in political ways, whether it be in the parlors, through letters, through correspondence, to kind of make these connections. behind th
afternoon. the rain gets here later this afternoon. 61 degrees in philadelphia. maybe a degree or two milder in all of the areas you re looking at. allentown 56. sea isle isle, 65. noon, 73. 3:00 p.m., 80. it will be nice by 3:00 p.m. anytime after that in the northern and western neighborhoods we ll see showers build in and by the evening commute by dinnertime, showers and thunderstorms, you can see how the temperatures start to drop as the rain moves in. we re hoping the rain doesn t last all evening in philadelphia. we have future tracker 6 showing you the progression of that and we have the weekend call coming up, karen. reporter: all right, dave i m trying to get you to work on a friday. southbound traffic approaching cottman, i-95 no delays. in the city we re looking good, as well. the vine street expressway approaching the schuylkill expressway. we ve seen volume westbound heading toward the schuylkill expressway. no delays there, either. we re talking about closures
modern to us today. john and abigail adams have become so prominent in the minds of americans because of this collection of papers and the publications that have opened them up to the world. the story of abigail adams in the revolutionary war is a story of sacrifice, of commitment to country and abigail rose to the occasion. abigail was adamantly opposed to slavery. she was quite behind-the-scenes dynamo, i think. she warned her husband. you can t rule without including what women want and what women have to contribute. the backdrop to the adams brief occupancy of the white house is one of political defeat and personal tragedy. she is worried about her husband and defends him against slander. she is concerned about her children, their upbringing their education. she could hold her own with anybody, in her own time and since. she was in every way her husband s equal. susan swain: born in 1744, abigail smith married john adams at age 19. over 54 years of marriage