| 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. |
| 470 |
| 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. |
| 471 |
| 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.” |
| 472 |
| 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. |
