Earlier this month, on August 5 to be exact, the Massachusetts Historical Society celebrated the fourth year anniversary of posting line-a-day diary entries by John Quincy Adams on Twitter, beginning on that day. In his diary JQA described his long trip from the United States to St. Petersburg in 1809 where he served as the American minister to Russia. During his tenure he wrote daily comments on meetings with diplomats and friends, recreational walks, family matters, even the weather.

Although this diary is by a male and outside the time frame of this blog, there is something to be gleaned from the MHS project, especially for teachers. As a lesson in language arts and or history, a teacher could assign a primary source by a woman (from this blog or the book In the Words of Women) to a class and have students come up with a 140-character tweet based on the document. There is more to this task than meets the eye: students must read carefully, understand what is being said, and condense the essence into a short statement. Tweets can be shared and compared to conclude the lesson. Or the lesson could constitute an introduction to a topic suggested by the source. For example, this letter by Abigail Adams to her husband John in Philadelphia is an excellent entry point for a discussion of the activities of women during the Revolution.

[Boston July 31, 1777]You must know that there is a great Scarcity of Sugar & Coffe, articles which the Female part of the State are very loth to give up, especially whilst they consider the Scarcity occasiond by the merchants having Secreted a large Quantity. There had been much rout & Noise in the Town for several weeks. Some Stores had been opend by a Number of people & the Coffe & Sugar carried into the market & dealt out by pounds. … A Number of Females, some say a hundred, some say more, assembled with a cart & trucks, marchd down to the ware House [of merchant Thomas Boylston] & demanded the keys, which he refused to deliver. Upon which one of them Seazd him by his Neck & tossd him into the cart, upon his finding no Quarter, he deliverd the keys, when they tipd up the cart & dischargd him; then opend the warehouse, Hoisted out the Coffe themselves, put it into the trucks & drove off. … A large concourse of Men Stood amazd, Silent Spectators of the whole transaction.

In addition to devising a tweet for this letter, students could be directed to the Massachusetts Historical Society site where the manuscript version of the letter can be found and have a go at reading Abigail’s handwriting. These are wonderful exercises likely to involve students and others by providing not only information but a sense of immediacy surpassed only by time travel.

Dear reader: a challenge! Why not comment with a tweet of your own based on Abigail’s letter.

Anne Hulton, late in 1767, accompanied her brother Henry and his family from England to Boston where he had been named Commissioner of Customs by King George III. Almost from the very moment they set foot on American soil, their lives were in danger. Anne wrote to a friend in England in June of 1768.

You will be surprized to hear how we were obliged … to take Refuge on board the Romney Man of War lying in Boston Harbour. Mrs. Burch at whose house I was, had frequently been alarmed with the Sons of Liberty surroundg her house with the most hideous howlings as the Indians, when they attack an Enemy. … These Sons of Voilence after attacking Houses, breakg Windows, beating, Stoning & bruizing several Gentlemen belonging to the Customs, the Collector mortally, & burning his boat. They consultd what was to be done next, & it was agreed to retire for the night. All was ended with a Speech from one of the Leaders, concludg thus, “We will defend our Liberties & property, by the Strength of our Arm & the help of our God, to your Tents O Israel.” This is a specimen of the Sons of Liberty, of whom no doubt you have heard, & will hear more.

The HMS Romney Man of War was a fifty-gun British frigate stationed in Boston harbor at this time. It was responsible for seizing John Hancock’s ship Liberty as it tried to avoid paying customs duties imposed by the British. The base of British operations in the siege of Boston was Castle William in the harbor. Loyalists repaired there as well as to the Romney when they felt threatened by the Patriots.

This excerpt is from In the Words of Women, Chapter 1, pages 10-11. The image is by Surveyor Pierie William, 1773, and is in the British Library. Read another post by Anne Hulton HERE.

Joseph, the soldier husband of Sarah Hodgkins, in camp on Long Island, asked his wife to send him some shirts. Though she was struggling to provide for their three children and care for her elderly father-in-law, she managed to make him one and send it off. Sarah constantly begged him to come home, which he did from time to time, but Joseph kept reenlisting. He survived the battle for New York and saw action in the Hudson Highlands and at Valley Forge.

Ipswich June ye 2 1776Loving Husband these Lines come with my most afectionate regards to you hoping they will find you in good health as they Leave me at this time through the goodness of God … I am rejoiced to hear you are well. I am Sorry to hear that you are amongst a People that are So unkind as you inform me they are. Monday night—my Dear I began to write a Letter Last night but it was So Late before I begun I could not write much. I have been very busy all day to day a making you a Shirte. You Sent to me to Send you a couple & I had but one ready for the Cloth that I intended to make you Some Bodys of. I have not got it Quite done So I was abliged to take one off of the Cloth I had in the house & I have got it done & washd and Sister Perkins is now a ironing of it … I want to See you very much. Sometimes I am almost impatient but concidering it is Providence that has parted us I desire to Submite & be as contented as I can & be Thankfull that we can hear from one another.

From In the Words of Women, Chapter 2, page 59.

In 1789, George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States. One of the offices he had to fill was that of chief justice of the Supreme Court. He nominated John Jay for that position, and the Senate confirmed him. The justices at that time were obliged to ride circuit, in effect to sit as federal judges in the different sections of the country during the course of the year. John Jay, with a companion justice, rode the northern circuit, which meant that he was away from home for considerable periods of time. He and his wife, Sarah, who remained in New York City with their children, corresponded frequently—the topics generally included health and domestic matters. But Sarah had social engagements as well, as will be seen from this letter of Friday 23rd April 1790. (She always addressed her husband in letters as “Mr. Jay.”)

Mr dear Mr. Jay,As you have had some disagreeable weather I am impatient to hear whether it has affected your health or not. … Col: Wadsworth inform’d me last evening that the influenza was again very prevalent at Hartford. I dread the effects of that disorder more than ever, & sincerely hope you will guard against it as much as possible.

Our little folks are very well. The distance they suppose you to be at present, the still greater distance you are to travel, the impediments likely to interrupt yr. journey & the pleasing idea of your return are the interesting subjects of our domestic conversation. A week has elapsed since your departure & the servants have not yet given one occasion for the smallest dissatisfaction. Tomorrow or monday I shall pay my father the long intended visit.

Last Monday the President went to Long Island to pass a week there. On Wednesday Mrs. Washington call’d upon me to go with her to wait upon Miss Van Berckel [the daughter of the Dutch minister to the United States] & and on thursday morning agreeable to invitation myself and the little girls took an early breakfaast with her & then went with her & her little grand Children to Breakfast at Genl. Morris’s Morissania. We pass’d together a very agreeable day & on our return dined with her as she wd. not take a refusal, after which I came home to dress & she was so polite as to take Coffee with me in the evening.
Adieu! my best beloved! May blessings ever attend you!
Sa. Jay

The letter is from Selected Letters of John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay, page 191. The portrait is by Gilbert Stuart. Read other posts by Sarah Jay HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Hannah Callender, a young Quaker from Philadelphia, traveled to New York City in 1759. She visited Quakers in Flushing [Samuel Bowne and his family] and commented on the surrounding area on her way to dinner with friends. She described further adventures on Long Island including a visit to an Indian wigwam and THE BEACH. The notation follows the Quaker custom of referring to days of the week by number.

7th day.—The roads around Flushing look like pleasant walks of two chair width, fenced by low stone walls with trees planted along them or fine Prims [sic] hedge. The road to Rodman’s in particular is pleasant by reason of fine rising hills, which give a view of the bay and the country clothed at this time in beautiful fields of grain and pasturing. There was likewise a fine piece of woods so clear from brush underneath and covered with grass, that it seemed to invite one to a cool retreat from the noontide ray. The house is close by, yet within a good distance from the inlet of the bay on which it stands. … From the door there is a good prospect of the bay and big island, with pretty rising hills covered with trees. …

3d day.—We parted from Samuel Bound’s [Bowne] family … and went to Rockaway. It is a beautiful road, with fine flocks of sheep [in sight] till we come to the edge of the plains. … Afternoon crossed the plains to Hamstead [Hempstead].

4th day morning.—We went to see a curious Indian Wigwam, made of reeds wrought into mats, laid one over the other so compactly as to keep out the weather. The door was straw, hinges of the same: the fire place in the middle and an open [place in the top: berths around the room for lodging, on one of which the old man, father of the family lay. … The mother was pounding corn on a stone worn hollow like a mortar. Milk in a conch shell. … They had three children, and thus lived these ancient tenants of the land!

From thence went to the beach. The fine white sand along it is so hard, that riding makes no impression on it. We rode several miles sometimes in the waves, which seem to meet you as though they would overwhelm. There are beacons placed on a hill to alarm the country in case of an invasion. We saw some ships out at sea, which looks of a green cast. … The riding is so fine that there are often great wagers won by racing. We bade adieu to one of the most glorious sights my eye ever beheld and rode through a pleasant country to Jamaica. …

She marveled at the views from New York City upon her return.

6th day morning.—Walked along the North River [Hudson]; the Jersey shore opposite is very high and rocky. I think the prospects of North and South [East?] rivers with the prospect from the fort, of the Islands, Sandy Hook at a distance, &c. for a finer view than I ever saw before.

“Extracts from the Diary of Hannah Callender” by George Vaux, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 12, pages 441-44.