People of the Revolution, and Patriot and Loyalist views
Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence
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Remember the Ladies, 1776 (cards A to C). Card A, Abigail Adams to John Adams, March 31 to April 5, 1776, from the Adams Family Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society (spelling as printed; cuts marked): "I long to hear that you have declared an independency -- and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation." Card B, John Adams to Abigail Adams, April 14, 1776, same collection (spelling as printed; cuts marked): "As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh." "… your Letter was the first Intimation that another Tribe more numerous and powerfull than all the rest were grown discontented." "Depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems. Altho they are in full Force, you know they are little more than Theory." "We have only the Name of Masters, and rather than give up this, which would compleatly subject Us to the Despotism of the Peticoat, I hope General Washington, and all our brave Heroes would fight." Card C, a summary in our words: both letters are private letters between a wife and a husband. John Adams was serving in the Continental Congress, which had not yet declared independence when Abigail wrote. Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Card A is a private letter from Abigail Adams to her husband. What is it best evidence for, Ari asks?
- What the Continental Congress decided about women's rights
- A later historian's summary of Abigail Adams's ideas about women
- One woman's view, to her husband, of what the new laws should do
- What most women in the colonies demanded in 1776
Why does Abigail write that women are "determined to foment a Rebelion" if they are ignored, Bo asks?
- To praise Congress for its attention to the Ladies
- To press John to include women in the new laws, with a warning
- To ask John to leave Congress and return home to her
- To announce that women had already started a rebellion in Massachusetts
Card B begins "I cannot but laugh." How should a reader take John Adams's reply, Esme asks?
- As an official ruling by the Continental Congress on the Ladies' request
- As proof that he was angry with her and ended the letters
- As a promise that he will add women's rights to the new laws
- As a teasing reply that engages her request but promises no change
A student writes: "Abigail Adams wanted women to be able to vote." How strong is that claim, given card A, Kira asks?
- Weak: card A says nothing about women having a say in laws
- Strong: card A says the Ladies are "determined to foment a Rebelion"
- Partly: she wants a "voice, or Representation" in laws, but never mentions voting
- Weak: card B says men are the subjects in practice, so women already ruled and no change was needed
How do Abigail and John describe men's power over women, Luz asks?
- Both describe it as fair and already well limited by the laws of the colonies
- Abigail calls it natural and John calls it unjust
- Neither letter says anything about men's power
- Abigail calls it "unlimited power" needing limits; John calls it mostly theory
Which statement do both letters, A and B, support, Milo asks?
- Both treat women's place in the new laws as a topic in spring 1776
- Both say the Declaration of Independence had already been adopted by Congress
- Both were written on the same day in March
- Neither letter can be used, since both are private
Card B is John Adams's reply. Why can it not speak for everyone in Congress, Noah asks?
- John Adams wrote it on behalf of the whole Continental Congress
- Congress voted on the letter before it was sent to Abigail
- It was written before Abigail's letter, so it answers nothing
- It is one man's private reply, written with teasing humor
Card C says the Declaration was adopted on July 4. What does that mean for reading Abigail's "I long to hear that you have declared an independency," Pia asks?
- She wrote about three months before it, hoping for independence
- She wrote on the day it was adopted, July 4
- She wrote after it, to complain about what the Declaration said
- She was reporting that independence had been declared
Whose view is missing from the pair of letters, Tala asks?
- Congress's official view, which both letters state
- Women outside the Adams family, including enslaved women
- Abigail's view, because just John's letter appears on the card
- No view is missing, because two letters give the whole picture of 1776
Both letters are private. How does that affect what they can show, Zee asks?
- Private letters cannot be used as evidence at all
- Private writing can be franker, but it shows only the writers' own views
- Private letters show what the whole country believed in 1776
- Private letters always give the full truth about what the writers thought