What role did John Adams play in the American Revolution? How did go on to help shape the new nation as president, and what were his reasons for and objections to the Alien and Sedition Acts?

Students will:

• explain John Adams’s role in the American Revolution and the shaping of the Constitution.
• understand the reasons for and objections to the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798).
• understand key events leading up to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
• understand the value of reading personal letters from history.
• appreciate Adams’s contributions to America as a Patriot and as President.

Student Handouts

• Handout A—John Adams (1735–1826)
• Handout B—Vocabulary and Context Questions
• Handout C—In His Own Words: John Adams On The Eve Of Independence
• Handout D—Discussion Guide

Additional Teacher Resources

• Transparency Master A — Independence Timeline
• Answer Key

Explain to students that John Adams’s wife Abigail was his closest, if not only, confidante. The two spent much time apart in the years leading up to and after the Revolution (1773–1784), first while Adams was traveling as a circuit judge, then later serving on the Continental Congress and traveling as a diplomat. Their correspondence reveals an intimate glimpse into the ways the events of the Revolution personally affected the Founders and their families.