Adams Time Chart Companion · All chapter resources

Chapter 14: From the Reformation to the Chart’s Final Year

Study activity, printable worksheet, explained answers, and source references for your chapter.

Printed chapter: pages 86-93. Complete connected chart: pages 98–145. These page references match the reviewed manuscript.

Listen to Chapter 14 · View Chapter 14 on the chart · Download the two-page worksheet

Compare a book, a government, and a machine

Choose three details: an English Bible edition, American independence, and Watt’s engine. For each, write what changed, what the date measures, and the source. Younger learners can match pictures and subjects; older learners should correct one overbroad claim without erasing its useful historical context.

Find the detail on the chart, identify what each number measures, and record the source used for your explanation.

Practice questions and explained answers

Try the worksheet first. Tap a question to reveal its explanation.

1. How does Worms in 1521 differ from 1517?

1521 identifies Luther’s appearance before the imperial assembly at Worms; 1517 concerns the theses. They are different stages of the Reformation story.

2. Distinguish the three English Bible publication milestones.

Tyndale’s New Testament was printed in 1526; Coverdale’s complete English Bible in 1535; the first King James edition in 1611. Contents and editions differ.

3. What does Henry VIII’s 1534 label concern?

Royal supremacy over the Church of England. It is not the beginning of Christianity in England or the date of his accession.

4. What do 1776, 1783, 1787, and 1789 identify?

The Declaration of Independence, the peace recognizing independence, the signed Constitution, and Washington’s inauguration. Independence, constitutional adoption, and inauguration are separate milestones.

5. How do the 1863 proclamation and 1865 amendment differ?

The Emancipation Proclamation applied to designated areas in rebellion; the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude within its constitutional wording, with the punishment-for-crime exception. Scope and legal authority differ.

6. What is a better explanation of Watt’s contribution?

He improved an existing steam-engine technology through the separate condenser, patented in 1769. The chart’s kettle and 1750 caption are not a sound discovery date for all steam engines.

Complete connected chart

Download all four parts and print in order, at actual size (100%). These contain one complete set of 48 numbered chart tiles, divided into four downloads. Follow the tile labels to connect the chart. Use the chapter enlargements for small lettering.

Sources to consult

These are the chapter’s source references, not quotations from those works. Use the named title, institution, record number, or passage to locate the source. Some external sources may have access restrictions.

Library of Congress, Ninety-Five Theses, item 2021667736, 1517 printed edition; and Martin Luther as Priest, Heretic and Outlaw, section “Luther the Outlaw.” Used for indulgences, the 1521 Diet and Edict of Worms, and the distinction between ecclesiastical and imperial condemnation.
Library of Congress, “First Printed English New Testament To Be Displayed at the Library of Congress,” 15 May 1997; and “‘Let There Be Light’,” Information Bulletin, July 1997. Identifies the complete Worms New Testament of 1526 and the King James edition of 1611. The incomplete 1525 Cologne printing is a different event.
Cambridge University Library, Great and Manifold Blessings: The Making of the King James Bible, “The Bible in English,” “The Great Bible,” “For church and home,” and exhibition captions. Coverdale’s complete Bible, 1535; Great Bible, 1539; Bishops’ Bible, 1568; and teams behind the 1611 edition. Publication is distinguished from translation and revision.
UK Parliament, “Act of Supremacy 1534,” Public Act, 26 Henry VIII, c. 1, Parliamentary Archives HL/PO/PU/1/1534/26H8n1; and “The Reformation.” Used for the king’s ecclesiastical authority and the continuing institutional role of Parliament.
John Paul II, Apostolos Suos, 21 May 1998, section 3, dates Trent to 1545-1563. Council of Trent, Session XXIII, 15 July 1563, seminary decree, translated in German History in Documents and Images; compare Benedict XVI, Ministrorum Institutio, 16 January 2013. The entire council’s dates differ from the narrower selection of excerpts.
National Archives, Declaration of Independence (1776), Milestone Documents.
National Archives, Treaty of Paris (1783), Milestone Documents, signed 3 September 1783, Record Group 11. Used for British recognition of independence, separate from the 1776 declaration.
National Archives, Constitution of the United States (1787), Milestone Documents, signed 17 September 1787, Record Group 360. Signing, state ratification, and operation of the new government are separate stages.
National Archives, “George Washington’s First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789,” Record Group 46; compare Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, “The Early Republic.” Used for inauguration under the Constitution.
National Archives, Emancipation Proclamation (1863), Milestone Documents, 1 January 1863. Designated areas, exceptions, military enforcement, enslaved people’s actions, and Black troops.
National Archives, 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865), Milestone Documents. Passed Congress 31 January; ratified 6 December 1865. The punishment-after-conviction exception is retained.
Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, Nuremberg, 1543. Library of Congress item 92516339 and Exploring the Early Americas, “Documenting New Knowledge.” Used for publication and the heliocentric model, not present-day validation of the chart’s printed distances.
Galileo Galilei, Sidereus nuncius, Venice, March 1610, Library of Congress item 2021666736, “The Starry Messenger.” Used for telescopic observations and the published account, not invention of all telescopes.
Isaac Newton, Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica, London: Royal Society, 1687, Library of Congress item 2021667054. Motion and gravitation in the first edition. The tree illustration does not independently establish a complete theory in 1666.
National Museums Scotland, “The Newcomen engine and its role in Britain’s industrial revolution.” Newcomen’s pumping-engine type dates to 1712, supplying context before Watt’s improvement.
Science Museum Group, James Watt, person record cp37593; Science Museum, Ben Russell, “James Watt and the separate condenser.” Used for the 1769 patent and improved efficiency, not a first discovery of steam in 1750.
National Park Service, Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, “Steamboats: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837-1839.” Its historical introduction identifies Fulton’s commercially successful steamboat in 1807. That does not make it the first steamboat experiment.
B&O Railroad Museum / National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation, “Tom Thumb,” original 1830, replica 1927. Demonstration is distinguished from regular service. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, “Model of the 1829 Steam Locomotive, Stourbridge Lion,” nmah_687356, records the test of 8 August 1829.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, South Asia, 1400-1600 A.D., Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Babur’s 1526 victory, interruption of Mughal control, recovery in 1555, and Akbar’s accession in 1556. The regional heading does not imply uniform control of all South Asia.
UK Parliament, “East India Company and Raj 1785-1858.” Used for Company rule, the 1857 rising, suppression, and the 1858 transfer of governing power. The Company’s legal dissolution in 1874 is a separate event.
National Park Service, James A. Garfield National Historic Site, “Inauguration Day” and park brochure; U.S. House of Representatives, “Presidents, Vice Presidents, & Coinciding Sessions of Congress.” Used for Garfield’s 1881 presidency and Arthur’s vice presidency, distinct from the later succession.
C. J. Ellicott, Addresses on the Revised Version of Holy Scripture (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1901), Address I, pp. 5-6, Project Gutenberg eBook 25412.

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