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John Adams
Max
American Founding & Constitutional History

The Radical Idea: Founding a Republic

HBO's John Adams retells the American founding through one of its most stubborn architects. Use it to teach the ideas, negotiations, and personalities that produced the American constitutional order.

Intermediate

Modules

Module 1

Independence

Anchor scene

The Boston massacre trial

In this module

  • Rule of law under revolution
  • Continental Congress debates
  • Declaration as argument

Course outcomes

  • Explain core debates of the American founding
  • Trace early diplomacy and its constitutional consequences
  • Analyze the personalities behind constitutional design
  • Draw connections to modern constitutional questions