Place a source in its time and judge what it can tell us

Grade 11 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A to E. Card A. Maker: Abigail Adams, writing from her home in Braintree, Massachusetts. Date: March 31, 1776. Reader: her husband, John Adams, then a Massachusetts delegate in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Exact, from the 1876 printed edition (spelling made modern; Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, during the Revolution, pp. 149-150): "I long to hear that you have declared an independency [declared independence]. 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 favorable 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 particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment [stir up] a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation." Card B. Same letter, same edition, p. 149: "I feel very differently at the approach of spring from what I did a month ago. We knew not then whether we could plant or sow with safety, whether where we had tilled we could reap the fruits of our own industry, whether we could rest in our own cottages or whether we should be driven from the seacoast to seek shelter in the wilderness; but now we feel a temporary peace, and the poor fugitives [people who had fled] are returning to their deserted habitations." Card C, a note in our words: the Massachusetts Historical Society's transcription of the same letter keeps the writer's own spelling (for example "Laidies" and "Rebelion") and the word "favourable"; the 1876 edition printed the spelling in modern form. Card D, a note in our words: the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, about three months after the letter. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, was signed on September 3, 1783, and the Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. Card E, a note in our words: John Adams wrote back to Abigail on April 14, 1776. A reader who has only card A cannot tell what he thought of her request.

2. 1.

   Card A was written to one reader. What does that suggest to Ari about how to use it?

   • A frank private letter, so it shows her views freely but only hers
   • A private letter from a delegate's wife, so it records what Congress was debating
   • A letter to a public official, so it shows the views of Massachusetts women
   • A letter written to be shared with the delegates, so it shows what she wanted them to read
3. 2.

   Card A is dated March 31, 1776 and says "I long to hear that you have declared an independency." What does Bo learn about when it was written?

   • Before independence was declared; she wrote hoping for it
   • After the Declaration, since she already speaks of a new code of laws for the new nation
   • Late in the war, since card B speaks of a temporary peace and a return of families
   • Before independence, because she asks him to remember the ladies and so opposes independence
4. 3.

   Esme wants a question card A can help answer. Which question fits the card best?

   • How one educated woman in 1776 hoped women might be treated in new laws
   • What Congress planned for women when it wrote the new laws in 1776
   • How most educated women in 1776 expected the new laws to treat them
   • How John Adams planned to answer her request when he wrote back in April
5. 4.

   Cards A and B are from one letter. Jun asks what B adds to the way a historian reads A.

   • B shows she wrote from Philadelphia, close to the delegates' work on the laws
   • B shows the family had lost its home, which explains why A asks for new laws
   • B shows a temporary peace after fear of flight, so A was written in a calmer moment
   • B shows the war was nearly over, so A is a plan for the peace that was about to start
6. 5.

   Card C says the 1876 edition made the spelling modern. What should Kira conclude about quoting card A?

   • The transcription is a later copy, so the 1876 edition is closer to what she wrote
   • The 1876 editor may have changed the meaning of her request, so the transcription alone is trustworthy
   • The 1876 editor changed the spelling, so exact words should come from the transcription
   • The spelling shows the 1876 editor wrote some lines himself, so the edition cannot be used
7. 6.

   Card D shows the Declaration three months after card A. Which reading of that link is fair, Milo asks?

   • The link means nothing, since a private letter cannot be tied to public events
   • Her letter caused Congress to act, since the Declaration followed in July
   • Her hope fits the timing, but the cards do not show her letter influenced it
   • The Declaration answered her request about women, since it followed her letter
8. 7.

   Only card A is on Noah's desk. Which claim about John Adams's view of her request does it support?

   • None; his answer would be needed, and card E says he replied on April 14
   • He agreed, since she addressed him as a partner in making the laws
   • He was reluctant, since he replied two weeks later
   • He agreed in private but not in Congress, since a husband could be frank at home
9. 8.

   Abigail Adams argues for a cause in card A. Does that make it useless to a historian, Pia asks?

   • Yes, since a private letter is for one reader and cannot show wider views
   • No; it shows her aims and how she argued, if read with her purpose in mind
   • No, since a writer with a cause gives more reliable facts than a neutral writer
   • Yes, since a writer with a cause cannot describe the facts fairly
10. 9.

    Card B says the poor fugitives "are returning to their deserted habitations." Ren asks if B shows what happened along the whole coast.

    • No; a letter can show feelings but cannot be evidence of events
    • Yes; as an eyewitness she is a strong source on the local effects of the war
    • Yes; she names the seacoast, so she speaks for the people who lived along it
    • No; it gives one family's view of one spring, in her own words
11. 10.

    Tala writes: "Because the colonies won the war, Abigail knew in March 1776 that they would." What is wrong with the note?

    • She knew from the temporary peace in card B that the war was nearly won
    • She could not know, since card D shows the war lasted until 1783
    • Card B shows she did not know: a month before she feared being driven out
    • She hoped but did not know, since card A shows her wish for independence