I Must Study Politics And War

Adams wrote this in a letter to Abigail Adams dated May 12, 1780, while serving as a diplomat in France during the Revolutionary War. The passage continues: "My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy... in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture." It reflects Adams's conviction that liberty and learning are generational projects — each generation must sacrifice so the next can reach higher. He was acutely aware that his own scholarly ambitions had been subordinated to the demands of revolution.