Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, the nation’s second president. Abigail had strong opinions about war, politics, and the rights of women—and she wasn’t shy about expressing them. Few women in her time were as outspoken. Abigail Adams helped mold John Adams’s ideas—and so too our history.

TIME For Kids® Biographies help make a connection between the lives of past heroes and the events of today. In Abigail’s times, women were second-class citizens who were given little education and had few rights. Abigail wanted men and women to have equal rights. Her words have inspired women for centuries, and today many of Abigail’s ideas have finally taken hold.