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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was Talleyrand?

2. Who was elected president in 1800?

3. What was one of the concerns shared by pro-slavery and abolitionist factions?

4. Who was America's first legend?

5. Based upon his farewell address and most recent letters to the states, where did Washington believe America's destiny lay?

Short Essay Questions

1. What role did Madison and Hamilton play in their contributions to the Washington Farewell Address?

2. Why did the Federalist party disappear and the Republican party remain?

3. How did Benjamin Franklin contribute to the debates over slavery?

4. Why did Adams suggest that the President be referred to as "His Majesty"?

5. How did these debates contribute to the knowledge of this issue in our country?

6. Describe the change in Jefferson's attitude towards Washington that began with the Whiskey Rebellion.

7. What was the main difference between the Jefferson/Adams friendship and the Jefferson/Madison friendship?

8. Why did Jefferson make an ineffective Vice President to Adams?

9. Why was the marriage between John and Abigail Adams so unusual?

10. Why do you think the framers of the Constitution placed a moratorium on laws regarding slavery until 1808?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Did the author successfully establish his contention, stated at the beginning of the book, that the decade following 1776 was the most important in United States history to date? How did he accomplish this or fail to do so?

Essay Topic 2

Why do you think the author spent the majority of the book discussing the friendship, correspondence and actions of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson? What contributions do you think the author valued the most from these two men?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the quote of John Adams that he and Jefferson had much to explain to each other before they died. What did they need to discuss? How did this discussion through the lengthy correspondence affect history?

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