外向的第一夫人

On 3 December 1800 presidential electors across the United States convened in their respective states to cast their votes. Sixty-five-year-old incumbent President John Adams faced opposition within his Federalist Party but was also challenged by his vice president, 托马斯·杰斐逊. 竞选一直很激烈, and both Federalists and Democratic-Republicans had mobilized supporters and vilified opponents.

It was another two months before the official results were declared, 但在那之前, speculation abounded that Jefferson and New York's Aaron Burr had defeated Adams 和Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. Pinckney's home state was rumored to have delivered unanimous support to Jefferson and Burr, prompting 阿比盖尔 to write to her son Thomas Boylston Adams on 13 December 1800, "S Carolin has behaved as Your Father always Said She would." 阿比盖尔 recognized the significance of South Carolina's votes: "the concequence to us personally, 是我们退出公众生活吗.”“对于我自己和我的家人，我没有什么遗憾,她接着说, "at My age and with my bodily infirmities I shall be happier at Quincy. 也不是我的习惯, 或我的教育或爱好, have led Me to an expensive stile of living; So on that score I have little to mourn over; if I did not rise with Dignity, I can at least fall with ease; which is the more difficult task."

官方结果, tabulated and announced to a joint session of Congress by Jefferson on 11 February 1801, revealed an electoral tie between Jefferson and Burr; each had 73 votes. Adams's defeat was confirmed; he received 65 votes, one more than Pinckney. 亚当斯的总统任期不到一个月就结束了. 对阿比盖尔, who had advised and supported John throughout his public career, 是时候为退休做准备了. "My own intention," she told Thomas Boylston, "is to return to Quincy as soon as I conveniently can."

阿比盖尔离开了华盛顿特区.C.1801年2月13日到昆西. That same day, well over a year after it was first introduced, John Adams signed the U.S. Judiciary Act into law, which among other reforms created sixteen new federal judgeships. 阿比盖尔当天晚些时候抵达巴尔的摩. 旅途劳累, 她通知约翰, "I am not so weary however as to have lost my curiosity about the fate of the Election," which was then being determined by the House of Representatives. 2月17日，她到了费城. Earlier that day, the House, in its thirty-sixth ballot, had elected Jefferson as president. By the 19th Jefferson's election was widely reported in the Philadelphia press.

On 21 February 阿比盖尔 wrote to John again from Philadelphia, 注意的是, “我想看看评委名单." Three days earlier, he had issued the first in a series of nominations to the U.S. Judiciary that later became known as his "midnight appointments.然而，这些任命并不是……的副产品, 或者回应, Adams's or the Federalists' defeat in the election of 1800. The origins of the Judiciary Act of 1801 predated the election, and reforming the U.S. judicial system was a cause Adams supported throughout much of his public career. 例如, in his 3 December 1799 opening message to the first session of the sixth Congress, he described the judiciary's restructuring as "indispensably necessary." 阿比盖尔 appreciated the importance of the judicial nominations, 太, 尽管她在费城, she continued to be interested in the twilight of John's public career, writing "I wish You well through the remainder of Your political journey.他的任期还剩不到两周, 约翰·亚当斯于23日发布了额外的司法提名, 25, 1801年2月26日和3月2日, 所有这些都得到了参议院的批准.