Abigail Adams: Persuading Her Husband-key
Abigail Adams: Persuading Her Husband
Answer Key
1. What is Abigail trying to convince her husband to do?
Abigail Adams wanted to convince her husband to include better treatment of women in the laws of
the new country.
2. Give two examples of how she attempts to persuade him.
Example of correct answers:
A. She warned him of the results if “particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies.” The
women will start their own rebellion.
B. She appealed to his common sense by saying, “Men of sense in all ages abhor those customs
which treat us only as the vassals of your sex...”
3. How would you compare the Revolutionary War cry of “No taxation without representation” to
Abigail Adams’ warning of a rebellion by women?
She echoed the cry saying that women will not “bound by any laws in which we have no voice or
representation.”
4. What does impunity mean in the sentence “Why, then, not put it out of the power of the vicious
and the lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity?”
No punishment; an exemption from consequences
Passage Details
Words: 201-300
Skills: Compare and Contrast, Context Clues, and Main / Central Idea
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Abigail Adams: Persuading Her Husband-key
Grades: 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th
Topics: History and Political Writings
Genres: Prose
Lexile Range: 1060L - 1290L
Lexile Measure: 1150L
CCSS: History/Social Studies and Reading: Informational Text
Vocabulary Group: —
Vocabulary Words: —
Themes: —
Copyright © 2019 ReadingVine.com. All Rights Reserved. Free for educational use.
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