First Party SystemAll 5 grade bands · K-2 through APFree download

1796

Lesson plan.

John Adams vs Thomas Jefferson — The first contested presidential election saw Federalist John Adams narrowly defeat Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson. Under the original Constitutional rules, Jefferson's second-place finish made him Vice President — creating an unprecedented situation with a president and vice president from opposing parties. The election reflected the emerging two-party system and tensions over foreign policy, particularly toward France and Britain.

The 1796 U.S. presidential election sent John Adams (Federalist) to the White House. John Adams took 71 of the 138 electoral votes to Thomas Jefferson's 68. The race falls within the First Party System era; the lesson packets below dig into its central debates, with Foreign policy toward revolutionary France and Britain among the major themes.

What is in each packet

Cover

Cycle metadata + band eyebrow

Lesson plan

Instructor — timing, materials, standards

Reading

Sized to grade band (K-2: ~250 words → AP: ~650)

Background

Curated cycles — 5-7 vocab terms + primary-source excerpt

Student worksheet

K-2: 3 questions → AP: 8, mixed format

Answer key

Instructor — rationale on every item

Discussion prompts

3 prompts tied to era

DBQ (AP only)

Long-essay + 5-point rubric + second source

Download by grade band

K-2
Story
4 pp
20 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
Enter your email
One email per browser. Stored only to notify you when new packets ship.
3-5
Reading
5 pp
35 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
Enter your email
One email per browser. Stored only to notify you when new packets ship.
6-8
Reading
6 pp
50 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
Enter your email
One email per browser. Stored only to notify you when new packets ship.
9-12
Source
8 pp
75 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
Enter your email
One email per browser. Stored only to notify you when new packets ship.
AP
DBQ
12 pp
105 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
Enter your email
One email per browser. Stored only to notify you when new packets ship.

Embed

Drop this map on your site · coming soon

Free iframe with attribution. White-label option in the works.

Get notified →

Poster

Wall-worthy print · coming soon

Every-election grid and single-state series in the works.

Get notified →

Read further

Curated picks

Founding Brothers

Joseph J. Ellis

Pulitzer-winning portrait of the early republic.

Buy on Amazon →

Hamilton

Ron Chernow

The biography that became the musical.

Buy on Amazon →

John Adams

David McCullough

McCullough on Adams and the early presidency.

Buy on Amazon →

Recommendations are editorial.

Free, ad-light, no paywall

Built by one person. Tips fund the next 60 elections of editorial.

Tip on Ko-fi →