Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 2

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Chronology

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Chronology

John Quincy Adams, 1767–1788

1767	July 11	Born in Braintree on the Adams farm at the foot of Penn's Hill.
1775	July 17	With his mother (AA) witnesses the Battle of Bunker Hill from Penn's Hill.
1778	Feb.––April	Sails with his father (JA) from Mount Wollaston aboard the frigate Boston, to Bordeaux; thence travels to Paris where JA serves as one of the three United States commissioners.
1778	April 14	Enters M. Le Coeur's Academy at Passy, near Paris.
1779	March–June	With JA, leaves Passy and awaits passage to America at Nantes, Lorient, and St. Nazaire.
1779	June 17–Aug. 2	Sails from Lorient to Boston aboard the French frigate La Sensible.
1779	Nov. 12	Begins his Diary.
1779	Nov. 13–Dec. 8	Leaves Boston aboard La Sensible for France with his father, his brother Charles (CA), John Thaxter Jr., and Francis Dana. The congress had named JA to negotiate peace and commercial treaties with Great Britain. The frigate makes port at El Ferrol, Spain.
1779	Dec. 26	The Adams party begins its overland journey to France across northern Spain.
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1780	Feb. 9	Arrives in Paris.
1780	Feb. 10	Attends M. Pechigny's school at Passy with CA.
1780	July 27–Aug. 10	With CA, accompanies father to the Netherlands, JA's purpose being to negotiate a loan for the United States.
1780	Aug. 30	With CA, becomes a boarding student at the Latin School on the Singel, in Amsterdam.
1780	Nov. 10	Leaves the school with CA after JA's dispute with the preceptor.
1780	Dec. 18	Goes with CA and John Thaxter Jr. to Leyden, where all three matriculate at the university during the following month.
1781	June 9	Travels to Amsterdam with his father.
1781	July 7	Leaves Amsterdam for Russia with Francis Dana.
1781	July 25	Arrives in Berlin.
1781	Aug. 27	Arrives in St. Petersburg, where he serves as secretary and interpreter to Dana, appointed to seek Russian diplomatic recognition of the United States.
1782	March 9–10	Visits Oranienbaum and Peterhoff, near St. Petersburg.
1782	July 10–11	Attends the Grand Duke's annual ball at Peterhoff.
1782	Oct. 30	Leaves St. Petersburg for The Hague by way of the northern overland route through Finland.
1782	Nov. 22	Arrives in Stockholm, where he remains until 31 December.
1783	Jan. 1–25	Travels from Stockholm to Göteborg.
1783	Feb. 15	Arrives in Copenhagen, remaining there until 5 March.
1783	March 10	Enters Hamburg and stays there until 5 April.
1783	April 21	Arrives at The Hague, where he continues Latin and Greek studies with C. W. F. Dumas until JA's return from Paris in July.
1783	Aug.–Sept	Serves as his father's secretary in Paris, where JA and his fellow commissioners on 3 Sept. sign the Definitive Treaty with Great Britain.
1783	Sept. 22–Oct. 20	Lodges with JA at Thomas Barclay's house at Auteuil, near Paris.
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1783	Oct. 20	Leaves with JA for England on vacation, spent largely in London with short visits to Oxford and Bath.
1784	Jan. 2	Leaves London for The Hague with JA, who seeks a second Dutch loan to save American credit.
1784	May 14	Journeys to London to await the uncertain arrival of his mother and sister (AA2). Remains for more than one month before returning to The Hague alone.
1784	July 30	Is reunited with AA and AA2 in London.
1784	Aug. 8	Joined by JA, the Adams family travels to France, arriving in Paris on 13 August.
1784	Aug. 17	The Adamses establish their residence in Auteuil, while JA serves as a joint commissioner to negotiate treaties with European powers.
1785	May 12	Leaves Paris en route to America to attend Harvard.
1785	May 21	Sails from Lorient on the Courier de l'Améerique.
1785	July 17	Arrives in New York.
1785	Aug. 13	Leaves for Boston after a month in the company of members of the congress and New York society.
1785	Aug. 26	Arrives in Boston.
1785	Aug. 31	Is advised by President Joseph Willard to wait until the spring to enter Harvard.
1785	Sept. 7	Arrives at Haverhill to begin intensive study of Latin and Greek under the tutelage of his uncle, the Reverend John Shaw.
1786	March 15	Examined and admitted to Harvard as a junior sophister.
1786	May 29	Becomes a member of the “A.B.” Club.
1786	June 12	Gives his first speech before the “A.B.” Club on the topic “Nothing is so difficult, but it may be overcome by industry.”
1786	June 21	Elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
1786	July 6	Delivers his first speech before the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa on the question “Whether civil discord is advantageous to society.”
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1786	Sept. 26	Takes part in a forensic dispute at the Harvard Exhibition on the question “Whether inequality among citizens be necessary to the preservation of liberty of the whole.”
1787	April 10	At the Harvard Exhibition partakes in a conference on the comparative utility of law, physic, and divinity.
1787	July 18	Gives English oration at his commencement on the topic “Upon the Importance and Necessity of Public Faith, to the Well-Being of a Community,” which becomes his first published work when it appears in the Columbian Magazine in September.
1787	Sept. 8	Begins his legal studies in Newburyport in the office of Theophilus Parsons.
1788	June 20–30	Greets his parents on their return from Europe and assists the move into the new family residence, the Vassall-Borland house in Braintree.
1788	Sept. 5	Gives the annual Phi Beta Kappa Oration at Cambridge on the topic of young men's ambition.