Terms of Use

Terms of Use Terms of Use

Effective Date: July 15, 2025

Adams Presidential Center Website Terms of Use

Welcome to the website www.educatingforamericandemocracy.org (the “Site”). The Site is operated by Adams Presidential Center and Foundation, Inc. (“we”, “us” or “APC”). By accessing or using the Site you (you are referred to hereafter as “you” or “your”) signify that you have read, understand and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use.

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete portions of these Terms of Use at any time without further notice. If we do this, we will post the changes to these Terms of Use on this page and we will indicate at the top of this page the date upon which the most recent version of these terms became effective. Your continued use of the Site after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms of Use.

If you do not agree to abide by these or any future Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy, do not use or access (or continue to use or access) the Site or the platform available to registered users made available at the Site.  It is your responsibility to regularly check the Site to determine if there have been changes to these Terms of Use and to review such changes.

Please read these Terms of Use carefully, as they contain important information regarding your legal obligations, remedies, and rights, including various limitations and exclusions.

We reserve the right to withdraw or amend the Site, and any service or material we provide on the Site, in our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Site is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Site, or the entire Site, to users.

Proprietary Rights in Site and Site Content

All content on the Site, including designs, computer code, text, graphics, pictures, music, sound, and other works and their selection and arrangement (collectively, the “Site Content”) is the property of APC, its licensors, or other third parties. No Site Content may be modified, copied, distributed, framed, reproduced, republished, downloaded, scraped, displayed, posted, transmitted, or sold in any form or by any means, in whole or in part, without APC’s prior written permission. You are granted a limited license to access and use the Site and the Site Content in accordance with these Terms of Use solely for your internal purposes. You may not upload or republish Site Content on any Internet, intranet or extranet site or incorporate any Site Content in any other database or compilation.  Any use of the Site Content outside this limited license is strictly prohibited. Such license does not permit use of any data mining, robots, scraping or similar data gathering or extraction methods. Unless explicitly stated herein, nothing in these Terms of Use shall be construed as conferring any license to intellectual property rights.

Prohibited Conduct

You may not use this Site for any unlawful purpose.  You may not use the Site in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the Site or interfere with any other party’s use of the Site, including their ability to engage in real time activities through the Site.

You may not use any robot, spider, scraper, automated scripts or other automated means to access the Site, Site Content or services provided on the Site for any purposes. You shall not attempt to make the Site unavailable through denial-of-service attacks or similar means or use the Site in a manner that could damage, disable, or impair the Site.

APC may disable your access to the Site at any time, for any or no reason, and without notice to you, subject to the terms of any user agreement.

Privacy

You agree that you have read, understood and accept the terms of APC’s Privacy Policy. This policy governs the collection, use and sharing of personal and non-personal information from you when using the Site, including any portions of the site that require user name/password credentials for access.

Your Linking to Site

You are granted a limited, non-exclusive right to create a hyperlink to the Site’s home page, provided such link does not portray APC or any of its products and services in a false, misleading, derogatory or otherwise defamatory manner and does not create the appearance of affiliation with or sponsorship by APC.  You may not use any logo or other proprietary graphic or trademark of APC to link to any page of this Site without the express written permission of APC.  This limited right may be revoked at any time.

Links to Other Websites

The Site may contain links to other websites that are not under the control of APC.  The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by APC of such site and APC is not responsible for the content of such linked sites. If you decide to leave the Site and access a third-party website, you do so at your own risk.

Disclaimer of Warranties

The Site, Site Content and the other content and services made available on the Site are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. APC does not make and disclaims all express and implied warranties and representations, including, but not limited to, any implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, with regard to the Site, the Site Content, or any information or services provided through or generated by the Site to the extent permitted by law. APC does not warrant that access to the Site or Site Content will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects in the site will be corrected, or that the Site is free from viruses or other harmful components. You expressly agree that your use of the Site, including all Site Content, data, software or outputs distributed by, generated by, or downloaded or accessed from or through the Site, is at your sole risk.

Limitation of Liability

Under no circumstances shall APC or its principals, advisors, partners, contributors, assignees, agents, employees, directors, or affiliates be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages (even if it has been advised of the possibility of such damages), including but not limited to such damages for incorrect outputs or for lost, inaccurate or corrupted data, due to or in the course of your use of this Site or due to your reliance on any Site Content or output generated by or services provided on or through the Site.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless APC and its advisors, officers, employees, assignees, agents, subsidiaries, affiliates and other partners, from and against any claims, harm, actions or demands, damages, liabilities and settlements, including without limitation reasonable legal and accounting fees, arising out of, resulting from, or alleged to arise out of or result from: (1) your use of the Site; (2) your violation of these Terms of Use or the User Agreement, including, but not limited to, any use of the Site’s content, services, and products other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use; or (3) your use of any information obtained from the Site.

Comments and Suggestions

You acknowledge and agree that any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback or other information about the Site or the service provided on the Site (“Comments”), provided by you to APC are non-confidential and that APC shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these Comments for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you.

Governing Law and Venue

These Terms of Use shall be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the applicable federal laws of the United States of America.  All disputes arising under, or in any way connected with use of the Site, shall be litigated exclusively in the state and federal courts residing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and in no other court or jurisdiction. You hereby submit to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Miscellaneous Terms

ADAMS PRESIDENTIAL CENTER and the A logo are trademarks of APC.  You agree not to display or use these trademarks in any manner without APC’s prior, written permission.

APC may assign this agreement at any time. You may not assign or transfer this agreement.

If any provision of this Agreement is held to be unenforceable for any reason, the remaining provisions will be unaffected and remain in full force and effect.

The failure of APC to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision in that or any instance.

These Terms of Use, the User Agreement our Privacy Policy, and any additional user agreement relating to your use of the Site constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and APC regarding the Site and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations, and warranties, both written and oral, regarding the Site.

No waiver by APC of any term or condition set out in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of APC to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

Effective Date

These Terms of Use were last revised on  July 15, 2025.

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If you have any questions or suggestions regarding these Terms of Use, please contact APC at:

Adams Presidential Center and Foundation, Inc.
1305 Hancock Street
Quincy, MA 02171
info@adamspc.org

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We the People

This theme explores the idea of “the people” as a political concept–not just a group of people who share a landscape but a group of people who share political ideals and institutions.

Read more about the theme in:

The Roadmap
The Resource Library
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Institutional & Social Transformation

This theme explores how social arrangements and conflicts have combined with political institutions to shape American life from the earliest colonial period to the present, investigates which moments of change have most defined the country, and builds understanding of how American political institutions and society changes.

Read more about the theme in:

The Roadmap
The Resource Library
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Contemporary Debates & Possibilities

This theme explores the contemporary terrain of civic participation and civic agency, investigating how historical narratives shape current political arguments, how values and information shape policy arguments, and how the American people continues to renew or remake itself in pursuit of fulfillment of the promise of constitutional democracy.

Read more about the theme in:

The Roadmap
The Resource Library
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Civic Participation

This theme explores the relationship between self-government and civic participation, drawing on the discipline of history to explore how citizens’ active engagement has mattered for American society and on the discipline of civics to explore the principles, values, habits, and skills that support productive engagement in a healthy, resilient constitutional democracy. This theme focuses attention on the overarching goal of engaging young people as civic participants and preparing them to assume that role successfully.

Read more about the theme in:

The Roadmap
The Resource Library
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Our Changing landscapes

This theme begins from the recognition that American civic experience is tied to a particular place, and explores the history of how the United States has come to develop the physical and geographical shape it has, the complex experiences of harm and benefit which that history has delivered to different portions of the American population, and the civics questions of how political communities form in the first place, become connected to specific places, and develop membership rules. The theme also takes up the question of our contemporary responsibility to the natural world.

Read more about the theme in:

The Roadmap
The Resource Library
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A New Government & Constitution

This theme explores the institutional history of the United States as well as the theoretical underpinnings of constitutional design.

Read more about the theme in:

The Roadmap
The Resource Library
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A People in the World

This theme explores the place of the U.S. and the American people in a global context, investigating key historical events in international affairs,and building understanding of the principles, values, and laws at stake in debates about America’s role in the world.

Read more about the theme in:

The Roadmap
The Resource Library
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The Seven Themes

The Seven Themes provide the organizational  framework for the Roadmap. They map out the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students should be able to explore in order to be engaged in informed, authentic, and healthy civic participation. Importantly, they are neither standards nor curriculum, but rather a starting point for the design of standards, curricula, resources, and lessons. 

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Driving questions provide a glimpse into the types of inquiries that teachers can write and develop in support of in-depth civic learning. Think of them as a  starting point in your curricular design.

Learn more about inquiry-based learning in  the Pedagogy Companion.

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Sample guiding questions are designed to foster classroom discussion, and can be starting points for one or multiple lessons. It is important to note that the sample guiding questions provided in the Roadmap are NOT an exhaustive list of questions. There are many other great topics and questions that can be explored.

Learn more about inquiry-based learning in the Pedagogy Companion.

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The Seven Themes

The Seven Themes provide the organizational  framework for the Roadmap. They map out the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students should be able to explore in order to be engaged in informed, authentic, and healthy civic participation. Importantly, they are neither standards nor curriculum, but rather a starting point for the design of standards, curricula, resources, and lessons. 

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The Five Design Challenges

America’s constitutional politics are rife with tensions and complexities. Our Design Challenges, which are arranged alongside our Themes, identify and clarify the most significant tensions that writers of standards, curricula, texts, lessons, and assessments will grapple with. In proactively recognizing and acknowledging these challenges, educators will help students better understand the complicated issues that arise in American history and civics.

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Motivating Agency, Sustaining the Republic

  • How can we help students understand the full context for their roles as civic participants without creating paralysis or a sense of the insignificance of their own agency in relation to the magnitude of our society, the globe, and shared challenges?
  • How can we help students become engaged citizens who also sustain civil disagreement, civic friendship, and thus American constitutional democracy?
  • How can we help students pursue civic action that is authentic, responsible, and informed?
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America’s Plural Yet Shared Story

  • How can we integrate the perspectives of Americans from all different backgrounds when narrating a history of the U.S. and explicating the content of the philosophical foundations of American constitutional democracy?
  • How can we do so consistently across all historical periods and conceptual content?
  • How can this more plural and more complete story of our history and foundations also be a common story, the shared inheritance of all Americans?
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Simultaneously Celebrating & Critiquing Compromise

  • How do we simultaneously teach the value and the danger of compromise for a free, diverse, and self-governing people?
  • How do we help students make sense of the paradox that Americans continuously disagree about the ideal shape of self-government but also agree to preserve shared institutions?
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Civic Honesty, Reflective Patriotism

  • How can we offer an account of U.S. constitutional democracy that is simultaneously honest about the wrongs of the past without falling into cynicism, and appreciative of the founding of the United States without tipping into adulation?
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Balancing the Concrete & the Abstract

  • How can we support instructors in helping students move between concrete, narrative, and chronological learning and thematic and abstract or conceptual learning?
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Each theme is supported by key concepts that map out the knowledge, skills, and dispositions students should be able to explore in order to be engaged in informed, authentic, and healthy civic participation. They are vertically spiraled and developed to apply to K—5 and 6—12. Importantly, they are not standards, but rather offer a vision for the integration of history and civics throughout grades K—12.

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Helping Students Participate

  • How can I learn to understand my role as a citizen even if I’m not old enough to take part in government? How can I get excited to solve challenges that seem too big to fix?
  • How can I learn how to work together with people whose opinions are different from my own?
  • How can I be inspired to want to take civic actions on my own?
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America’s Shared Story

  • How can I learn about the role of my culture and other cultures in American history?
  • How can I see that America’s story is shared by all?
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Thinking About Compromise

  • How can teachers teach the good and bad sides of compromise?
  • How can I make sense of Americans who believe in one government but disagree about what it should do?
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Honest Patriotism

  • How can I learn an honest story about America that admits failure and celebrates praise?
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Balancing Time & Theme

  • How can teachers help me connect historical events over time and themes?
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The Six Pedagogical Principles

 EAD teacher draws on six pedagogical principles that are connected sequentially.

Six Core Pedagogical Principles are part of our Pedagogy Companion. The Pedagogical Principles are designed to focus educators’ effort on techniques that best support the learning and development of student agency required of history and civic education.

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This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

EAD teachers commit to learn about and teach full and multifaceted historical and civic narratives. They appreciate student diversity and assume all students’ capacity for learning complex and rigorous content. EAD teachers focus on inclusion and equity in both content and approach as they spiral instruction across grade bands, increasing complexity and depth about relevant history and contemporary issues.

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This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Growth Mindset and Capacity Building

EAD teachers have a growth mindset for themselves and their students, meaning that they engage in continuous self-reflection and cultivate self-knowledge. They learn and adopt content as well as practices that help all learners of diverse backgrounds reach excellence. EAD teachers need continuous and rigorous professional development (PD) and access to professional learning communities (PLCs) that offer peer support and mentoring opportunities, especially about content, pedagogical approaches, and instruction-embedded assessments.

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This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Building an EAD-Ready Classroom and School

EAD teachers cultivate and sustain a learning environment by partnering with administrators, students, and families to conduct deep inquiry about the multifaceted stories of American constitutional democracy. They set expectations that all students know they belong and contribute to the classroom community. Students establish ownership and responsibility for their learning through mutual respect and an inclusive culture that enables students to engage courageously in rigorous discussion.

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This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Inquiry as the Primary Mode for Learning

EAD teachers not only use the EAD Roadmap inquiry prompts as entry points to teaching full and complex content, but also cultivate students’ capacity to develop their own deep and critical inquiries about American history, civic life, and their identities and communities. They embrace these rigorous inquiries as a way to advance students’ historical and civic knowledge, and to connect that knowledge to themselves and their communities. They also help students cultivate empathy across differences and inquisitiveness to ask difficult questions, which are core to historical understanding and constructive civic participation.

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This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Practice of Constitutional Democracy and Student Agency

EAD teachers use their content knowledge and classroom leadership to model our constitutional principle of “We the People” through democratic practices and promoting civic responsibilities, civil rights, and civic friendship in their classrooms. EAD teachers deepen students’ grasp of content and concepts by creating student opportunities to engage with real-world events and problem-solving about issues in their communities by taking informed action to create a more perfect union.

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This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Assess, Reflect, and Improve

EAD teachers use assessments as a tool to ensure all students understand civics content and concepts and apply civics skills and agency. Students have the opportunity to reflect on their learning and give feedback to their teachers in higher-order thinking exercises that enhance as well as measure learning. EAD teachers analyze and utilize feedback and assessment for self-reflection and improving instruction.

X
This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:
EAD teachers commit to learn about and teach full and multifaceted historical and civic narratives. They appreciate student diversity and assume all students’ capacity for learning complex and rigorous content. EAD teachers focus on inclusion and equity in both content and approach as they spiral instruction across grade bands, increasing complexity and depth about relevant history and contemporary issues.

X
This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Growth Mindset and Capacity Building

EAD teachers have a growth mindset for themselves and their students, meaning that they engage in continuous self-reflection and cultivate self-knowledge. They learn and adopt content as well as practices that help all learners of diverse backgrounds reach excellence. EAD teachers need continuous and rigorous professional development (PD) and access to professional learning communities (PLCs) that offer peer support and mentoring opportunities, especially about content, pedagogical approaches, and instruction-embedded assessments.

X
This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Building an EAD-Ready Classroom and School

EAD teachers cultivate and sustain a learning environment by partnering with administrators, students, and families to conduct deep inquiry about the multifaceted stories of American constitutional democracy. They set expectations that all students know they belong and contribute to the classroom community. Students establish ownership and responsibility for their learning through mutual respect and an inclusive culture that enables students to engage courageously in rigorous discussion.

X
This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Inquiry as the Primary Mode for Learning

EAD teachers not only use the EAD Roadmap inquiry prompts as entry points to teaching full and complex content, but also cultivate students’ capacity to develop their own deep and critical inquiries about American history, civic life, and their identities and communities. They embrace these rigorous inquiries as a way to advance students’ historical and civic knowledge, and to connect that knowledge to themselves and their communities. They also help students cultivate empathy across differences and inquisitiveness to ask difficult questions, which are core to historical understanding and constructive civic participation.

X
This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Practice of Constitutional Democracy and Student Agency

EAD teachers use their content knowledge and classroom leadership to model our constitutional principle of “We the People” through democratic practices and promoting civic responsibilities, civil rights, and civic friendship in their classrooms. EAD teachers deepen students’ grasp of content and concepts by creating student opportunities to engage with real-world events and problem-solving about issues in their communities by taking informed action to create a more perfect union.

X
This resource aligns with the core pedagogical principle of:

Assess, Reflect, and Improve

EAD teachers use assessments as a tool to ensure all students understand civics content and concepts and apply civics skills and agency. Students have the opportunity to reflect on their learning and give feedback to their teachers in higher-order thinking exercises that enhance as well as measure learning. EAD teachers analyze and utilize feedback and assessment for self-reflection and improving instruction.

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