Teacher Resources About the Adams Family

John Quincy Adams: Curriculum

Official title: John Quincy Adams: One President’s Adolescence

The documents selected for "One President's Adolescence" span the years 1773 to 1782, a crucial time in the life of both young John Quincy Adams and of the young republic. A brief chronology accompanying this unit (which can also be reached through the main portal page) places significant events in American history alongside milestones in JQA's life.

A document-based directed study featuring letters by and to John Quincy Adams from 1773, when he was 6 until 1782, the year he turned 15.

Abigail’s War: Curriculum

Official title: Abigail’s War: The American Revolution through the Eyes of Abigail Adams

Abigail's War is a student activity book based on letters exchanged between John and Abigail Adams. It promotes writing and mathematical skills at the same time as it helps students relate to the world of the American Revolution.

A student activity book and teacher's guide based on letters between John and Abigail Adams during the American Revolution.

Adams Family Legacy of Justice: Curriculum

Official title: The Adams Family of Massachusetts: A Legacy of Justice in Action

This curriculum unit comprised of 10 units helps middle-school students learn to use primary sources. Students will unravel the events leading up to the Boston Massacre, and discover John Adams’s philosophy of justice and also explore the life of John Quincy Adams and his work against slavery, including the Amistad Affair.

This curriculum unit for middle-school students uses primary sources to explore the Boston Massacre and John Adams's philosophy of justice as well as John Quincy Adams's work against slavery during the Amistad case.

Abigail Adams, the Writer: Curriculum

Official title: Abigail Adams, the Writer: "My pen is always freer than my tongue."

This curriculum unit for high school English students revolves around the question: What was life, particularly the writing life, like for an American woman before, during, and after the founding of our nation? By using Abigail Adams's correspondence and diaries, this curriculum enables students to explore primary source documents to learn about the historical, cultural, and ethical role of women in early America.

This curriculum unit for high school English students revolves around the question: What was life, particularly the writing life, like for an American woman before, during, and after the founding of our nation?

Adams and Jefferson, and the Birth of Party Politics in America: Curriculum

Official title: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Birth of Party Politics in America

In this unit students will learn how the Federalist and Republican parties, represented by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, were founded, what they believed, and their struggle for the hearts and minds of the American people. Students will also learn how, despite their very different views, members of these two parties shared an idealistic vision and belief in the future of the United States, that in the end transcended vicious party rivalries.

In this unit students will learn how the Federalist and Republican parties, represented by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, were founded, what they believed, and their struggle for the hearts and minds of the American people

Adams Family Foreign Policy: Curriculum

Official title: Adams Family Foreign Policy: Letters and Diaries from Europe

This curriculum unit helps to provide high school students with insight into the Adams family members and their combined efforts in the realm of American foreign policy between 1781 and 1863. This collection of primary source materials, culled from the Adams Family Papers, is divided into lessons that cover four major periods and events of early American history.

This curriculum unit helps to provide high school students with insight into the Adams family members and their combined efforts in the realm of American foreign policy between 1781 and 1863.

John Adams’s Views on Citizenship: Curriculum

Official title: John Adams’s Views on Citizenship: Lessons for Contemporary America

This curriculum unit engages students in an exploration of John Adams’s thinking about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a republic. Each lesson is divided into three sections: Documents, Contemporary issues, and Service-learning extensions.

This curriculum unit engages students in an exploration of John Adams’s thinking about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a republic.

John and Abigail Adams in Times of Change: Curriculum

Official title: John and Abigail Adams in Times of Change: the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Smallpox Epidemic during the American Revolution

Two curriculum units (one about the Battle of Bunker Hill and one about the smallpox epidemic) examine life in Boston, Massachusetts during the American Revolution as experienced through the letters of John and Abigail Adams. Between 1762 and 1801, John and Abigail wrote more than 1,100 letters to each other, recounting some of the most important events in American history. They are personal narratives that relate to John's political challenges and Abigail's day-to-day struggles, most significantly during the Battle of Bunker Hill and the smallpox epidemic.

Two curriculum units (one about the Battle of Bunker Hill and one about the smallpox epidemic) examine life in Boston, Massachusetts during the American Revolution as experienced through the letters of John and Abigail Adams.