Abigail Adams urges her husband to "remember the ladies"

Abigail Adams, one of my favorite people from the annals of American history, wrote a prescient letter to her husband, John Adams, on this date in 1776.

John was in Philadelphia at that point, urging the Continental Congress to declare American independence. Abigail, meanwhile, was back home in Massachusetts, caring for the couple’s children and wondering what independence, when it came, would mean for American women. Here's part of what this remarkable woman had to say when she put pen to paper on March 31, 1776:

I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. 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.

Abigail figured prominently in John Adams, a 2008 HBO miniseries about the man who became our second president. While Paul Giamatti did a fine job in the title role, Laura Linney (above, with Giamatti) was nothing short of brilliant as Abigail. If you haven't seen this impressive series, Linney's performance alone makes it well worth your time.