2 March: The French Directory issues a decree permitting French ships to seize neutral vessels carrying enemy cargo and requiring notarized crew lists.

4 March: JA is inaugurated as the second president of the United States.

16 April: TBA departs for Paris, arriving on 22 April; he returns to The Hague on 26 May.

19–22 April: CA visits JA in Philadelphia.

21 April: Susanna Boylston Adams Hall, JA’s mother, dies in Quincy.

23 April: Mary Smith, AA’s niece, dies in Quincy.

27 April: AA departs Quincy for Philadelphia, arriving on 10 May after visiting AA2 in Eastchester, N.Y., and CA in New York City.

April: WSS departs on an extended trip through central New York and the Northwest Territory, returning in Jan. 1798.

15 May: The 1st session of the 5th Congress convenes in Philadelphia; it sits until 10 July.

16 May: JA addresses Congress about deteriorating Franco-American relations.

20 May: JA nominates JQA to be minister plenipotentiary to Prussia; the Senate confirms the appointment 31 May. JQA learns of the appointment on 7 July and receives his commission and instructions on 22 September.

31 May: JA nominates Francis Dana and John Marshall to join Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to France. The Senate confirms the appointments on 5 June. On 20 June JA nominates Elbridge Gerry in place of Dana; the Senate consents on 22 June.

20 June: JQA delivers his letters of recall to the Batavian National Assembly.

26 June: Richard Cranch, son of William and Anna Greenleaf Cranch, is born in Washington, D.C.

28 June: JQA and TBA depart The Hague for London, arriving on 12 July.

3 July: JA submits evidence of the Blount affair to Congress.

24 July: JA and AA depart Philadelphia for Quincy, arriving on 5 Aug. after visiting CA and AA2 in New York. They bring with them AA2’s sons, William Steuben Smith and John Adams Smith.

26 July: JQA and LCA marry at the Church of All Hallows Barking in London.

23 Aug.: JQA is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

31 Aug. – 14 Sept.: AA and Mary Smith Cranch visit Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody in Atkinson, N.H., bringing with them William Steuben Smith and John Adams Smith, who are enrolled in Atkinson Academy.

4 Sept.: The coup d’état of An. V, 18 fructidor, in Paris results in the expulsion of conservatives from the French Directory and legislature.

9 Sept.: The Johnson family departs London for Georgetown, D.C., arriving 25 November.

14 Sept.: Lucy Greenleaf, the first child of John and Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, is born in Boston.

27 Sept.: Charles Salmon Smith, AA’s nephew, dies in Haverhill, Mass.

3 Oct.: JA and AA depart Quincy for Philadelphia, arriving at Eastchester, N.Y., on 11 October. They stay with AA2 until 7 Nov. because of a yellow fever outbreak in the capital.

16 Oct.: JQA, LCA, and TBA depart London for Berlin, arriving on 7 November.

10 Nov.: JA and AA arrive in Philadelphia.

13 Nov.: The 2d session of the 5th Congress convenes in Philadelphia; it sits until 16 July 1798.

16 Nov.: King Frederick William II of Prussia dies. He is succeeded to the throne by his son, who is crowned Frederick William III.

5 Dec.: JQA is presented to King Frederick William III.

1 Jan.: William Abdee, Adams family servant and husband of former slave Phoebe Abdee, dies in Quincy.

18 Jan.: The French Directory issues a decree declaring all ships carrying British goods to be lawful prizes and restricting any vessel having visited British ports from entry into French ports.

30 Jan.: Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold have an altercation on the House floor. A second confrontation occurs 15 Feb.; neither man is expelled for his actions.

4 March: The first dispatches from the American commissioners to France arrive in Philadelphia.

12 March: JA nominates JQA to renew the Swedish-American treaty, having previously commissioned him for that purpose in June 1797. The Senate confirms the appointment on 14 March 1798.

19 March: JA addresses Congress, reporting the failure of the mission to France. He authorizes merchant vessels to arm and urges Congress to provide for the defense of the nation.

23 March: JA proclaims a fast day for 9 May.

3 April: JA submits to Congress copies of the instructions to, and dispatches from, the American commissioners to France. Congress votes to publish the dispatches on 6 April and the instructions on 9 April, thereby making the XYZ Affair public.

25 April: “The President’s March” (later “Hail Columbia”) is first performed at the New Theatre in Philadelphia; AA is in attendance.