he called it peacefield.here were two rooms on the first floor, to go on the second, and smaller bedrooms on the third floor. there were about seven and half rooms to this home -- to this home. this was their home base. before becoming first lady, abigail would spend nine years in this house. the first year, she was setting up the house after returning from europe. she had remembered this house as one of the grand houses in quincy. her perception had changed after living in europe. she began making plans to enlarge the house. she wanted to improve on the size and height of the ceilings and the space. she would write to her daughter, warning her not to wear any of her large the other hats because the ceilings were too low. she began working with an architect to enlarge the home. they added a long hall and along entertainment room where she would receive her guests. with sensitivity to the architecture on the outside and the flow of the home, she had the builder did down so they could lower the floors and get t

. >> last video of abigail's death at peacefield. all right. we do not have that. we have a little bit of time left. bringing this full circle, what was her impact on american history? >> as we think back to the american revolution, she was -- a record of letter provides the only insight we have of the evolution at a sustained level during the entire period of the revolution. it is significant. she was an exemplary person. she tells us about women's lives and what it was like to be not just the first lady, but to be a wife and a mother and a sister and a daughter. >> what would you say? >> the thing i always think about with abigail is the relationship, the partnership. without an abigail, there is no john, and without a john, there is no abigail. >> the reason she is important is because of the relationship? >> right. without the support she provided, she was so trustworthy. he could go off and be this great public person. >> to our guests, c. james taylor and edith gelles, thank you for allowing us to understand the life and legacy of first lady abigail adams. >>

if you go to peacefield, it is like an attic of american stuff. there is stuff you have seen in textbooks. and you turn a corner and there is pad painting and this and that. >> guest: so many houses are like that. houses that stayed in the family. john jay's house was quite a simple villa like thousands and thousands of others, just up the road

if you go to peacefield, it is like an attic of american stuff. there is stuff you have seen in textbooks. and you turn a corner and there is pad painting and this and that. >> guest: so many houses are like that. houses that stayed in the family. john jay's house was quite a simple villa like thousands and thousands of others, just up the road in westchester. john jay's family prospered and they added on to the house and the house is filled with generation's worth of stuff. it is wonderful and john jay himself never threw anything away. he has his you the not grandfather, his green card, and you can see it, this department signed by lord limerick, allowing august jay to settle land to do business in a royal colony of new york. it has a little docket on the back, my grandfather's permission to stay in america and john jay's neat little hand writing. >> host: this was the most moving thing to me in the book, the letter that he writes hamilton's father in law. >> guest: i can repeat it because i will cry. >> host: you will have to buy the book to re