| Timeline |
| 1735 |
Born 30 October in the Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| 1751 |
Attends Harvard College |
| 1755 |
Graduates Harvard College in July, begins teaching grammar school in Mass. |
| 1756 |
Begins to study law |
| 1758 |
Admitted to Suffolk County Bar |
| 1761 |
Father dies, mother remarries in 1766 |
| 1762 |
Admitted as a barrister before the Superior Court of Judicature |
| 1764 |
Marries Abigail Smith |
| 1765 |
Daughter Abigail born; "Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law" published; prepares Braintree Instructions denouncing the Stamp Act |
| 1767 |
Son John Quincy Adams born |
| 1768 |
Daughter Susanna Adams born |
| 1770 |
Serves as clerk of Suffolk County Bar Association; son Charles Adams born; elected Boston representative to the General Court |
| 1772 |
Son Thomas Boylston Adams born |
| 1774 |
Massachusetts delegate to the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia |
| 1775 |
Daughter Louisa born; "Novanglus" essays published; attends the second Continental Congress; elected to the Massachusetts Council |
| 1776 |
Attends the Continental Congress; writes Thoughts on Government; appointed president of the Board of War and serves on the committee to draft a declaration of independence, also drafts the "Plan of Treaties" |
| 1777 |
Attends the Continental Congress; elected by Congress a joint commissioner, with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, to France |
| 1778 |
John and John Quincy Adams live in France; audience with Louis XVI |
| 1779 |
Returns to Boston; drafts the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780; appointed to negotiate treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain |
| 1780 |
Back in France; then Amsterdam - negotiating treaties |
| 1781 |
A Translation of the Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe . . . into Common Sense and Intelligible English. published; Congress revokes John Adams' commissions to negotiate Anglo-American peace and commercial treaties |
| 1782 |
"Letters from a Distinguished American" published |
| 1783 |
Signs peace treaty between the United States and Great Britain; travels in England |
| 1785 |
Named the first United States minister to Great Britain, is presented to George III |
| 1786 |
Completes A Defence of the Constitutions of the United States |
| 1788 |
Returns to Mass. |
| 1789 |
Elected Vice President; serial "Discourses on Davila" begins |
| 1791 |
Elected president of the Academy of Arts and Sciences |
| 1793 |
Re-elected Vice President |
| 1796 |
Defeats Jefferson for presidency |
| 1800 |
Defeated for re-election, retires to Quincy |
| 1807 |
Finishes Autobiography |
| 1818 |
Wife Abigail dies of typhoid fever |
| 1826 |
Dies 4 July |
