1735/10/30 |
John Adams is born on 30 October 1735 (19 October 1735, Old Style, Julian calendar), to Deacon John Adams and Susanna Boylston Adams. |
Born |
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John Adams Birthplace |
Quincy |
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John Adams's Birthday |
1750/02/22 |
John Adams signes his copy of "M Tullii Ciceronis Orationum Selectarum Liber, Editus in Ufum Scholarums Hollandiae and West Frisiae". |
Education |
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John Adams Birthplace |
Quincy |
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Journey of John Adams' Colonial Library |
1751/09/00 |
John Adams is admitted to Harvard College where he will study under Joseph Mayhew. Provided a partial scholarship, John's father Deacon Adams, will sell land to help pay for the tuition. |
Education |
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Old Harvard Yard |
Cambridge, MA |
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1759/00/00 |
The preferred hangout for John Adams and his bachelor buddies - Jonathan Sewall, Richard Cranch and Bela Lincoln - is the bustling Josiah Quincy House (lost). |
Visitor |
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Josiah Quincy House |
Quincy |
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1759/00/00 |
After an evening stroll with Hannah Quincy through Cupid's Grove, Adams spends a long night and most of the next day with Parson Wibird, talking and reading aloud from Benjamin Franklin's "Reflections on Courtship and Marriage". - "John Adams" DM |
Life |
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Quincy |
Massachusetts |
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1759/04/00 |
One spring night, alone with Hannah at the Quincy house (lost), John Adams is about to propose when cousin Esther and Jonathan Sewall suddenly burst into the room and the moment passes, never to be recovered. - 'John Adams', David McCullough |
Life |
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Josiah Quincy House |
Quincy |
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1759/07/00 |
In the summer, Richard Cranch takes John Adams to meet the Smith sisters: Mary, Abigail and Elizabeth. John will find the ladies neither "fond, not frank, nor candid." |
Life |
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Abigail Adams Birthplace |
Weymouth |
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1761/06/00 |
After the death of his father, John Adams inherits the two houses, 10 adjoining acres and thirty acres of orchard, pasture, woodland and swamp. |
Home |
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John Quincy Adams Birthplace |
Quincy |
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1764/10/25 |
In the living room of the Weymouth Parsonage, Rev William Smith unites in holy matrimony his daughter, Abigail Smith, with John Adams of Braintree. |
Groom |
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Abigail Adams Birthplace |
Weymouth |
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Marriage of Abigail Smith and John Adams |
1766/06/15 |
I spent the evening with the Sons of Liberty.... We had punch, wine, pipes and tobacco, biscuit and cheese, etc they chose a committee to make preparation for a grand rejoicing upon the arrival of the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act. - Adams diary |
Life |
The Stamp Act |
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Old English Punch |
American Revolution - From Protest to Revolt |
1770/02/26 |
John Adams encounters Seider's funeral near the Liberty Tree (lost, corner of Essex and Washington Sts, near Boston Common. "I saw a vast Collection of People, near Liberty Tree - enquired and found the funeral of the Child, lately kill'd by Richardson." |
Mourner |
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Boston Common |
Boston |
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Death of Christopher Seider |
1770/10/00 |
With John Adams and Josiah Quincy as defense attorneys, British Army officer Thomas Preston is acquitted of a murder charge. The jury decided that he did not order British Regulars to fire on Colonist. |
Defence Attorney |
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Boston Massacre |
1770/11/27 |
Trial begins for eight British Regulars charged with murdering five Colonist, John Adams and Josiah Quincy are their defense attorneys, six are acquitted and two are found guilty of manslaughter. |
Defence Attorney |
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Boston Massacre |
1771/06/08 |
I have spent this Morning in Riding thro Paradise. My Eyes never beheld so fine a Country. From Bissills in Windsor to Hartford Ferry, 8 miles, is one continued Street - Houses all along, ..., the Land very rich and the Husbandry pretty good. - JA |
Traveler |
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Windsor, CT |
Connecticut |
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1774/00/00 |
During 1774, John and Samuel Adams stay at the Square House as they travel to and from the Continental Congress. |
Visitor |
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Widow Haviland's Tavern |
Rye |
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1774/00/00 |
John Adams visits Wethersfield and takes tea with Mrs Elizabeth Deane. |
Guest |
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Silas Deane House |
Wethersfield |
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1774/09/01 |
John Adams visits Samuel Powel. |
Visitor |
Room from the Powel House, Philadelphia |
Powel House |
Philadelphia, PA |
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1774/09/05 |
First Continental Congress opens |
Represented Massachusetts |
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Carpenters' Hall |
Philadelphia, PA |
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First Continental Congress |
1774/10/00 |
John Adams and other members of the Continental Congress worship at St George's. |
Faith |
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St George's Methodist Church, Philly |
Philadelphia, PA |
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1775/00/00 |
John Adams visits Clunie calling it "the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania." Original paneling with ornamental carving still show the elegance of the lifestyle of colonial elites. |
Guest |
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Mount Pleasant |
Philadelphia, PA |
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1776/08/27 |
John Adams admires a most beautiful machine - an Orrery or planetarium constructed by Mr Rittenhouse of Philadelphia. It exhibits almost every motion in the astronomical world. |
Life |
Princeton's Rittenhouse Orrery |
Nassau Hall, Princeton University |
Princeton |
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1776/09/11 |
Representative for the British Crown, Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, meets with Continental Congress representatives John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Edward Rutledge in a peace conference. |
American Representative |
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Conference House |
New York City |
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1779/09/01 |
The Massachusetts delegates for a state constitution meet at First Church near Harvard Yard. In a few days, John Adams will be selected as one of the 30 members of the drafting committee. |
Braintree Delegate |
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First Parish in Cambridge |
Cambridge, MA |
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1782/03/15 |
The American Minister Plenipotentiary, John Adams, buys 18 Fluwelen Burgwal (lost)(street of the Velvet Makers) in The Hague to serve as an Embassy, or Hotel des Etats Unis, or, L'Hotel de nouveau Monde. |
Work |
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1782/06/11 |
US representative John Adams signs five bonds at 5 percent in the amount of 1,000,000 guilders - each from a syndicate of Dutch bankers, repayment to begin in 10 years and paid in 15. |
Work |
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1782/09/27 |
Formal peace negotiations to end the American Revolution begin. American representatives John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Henry Laurens discuss terms with British delegates David Hartley and Richard Oswald. |
American Delegate |
Treaty of Paris (1783) |
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1782/10/08 |
In the Treveszaal, or truce Chamber, in the Binnenhof, American Minister Plenipotentiary, John Adams, signs the Treaty of Commerce with the Dutch. |
Work |
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Binnenhof and Buitenhof, 'Gevangenpoort |
The Hague |
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1783/09/03 |
John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay meet at David Hartley's hotel and sign the Treaty of Paris in his room. Hotel d'York, 56 Rue Jacob, Paris, France. |
American Delegate |
Treaty of Paris (1783) |
Hotel d'York Building |
Rue Jacob, Paris |
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1781 American Revolution - After Yorktown |
1786/04/00 |
John Adams visits Hagley Hall. |
Visitor |
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Hagley Hall |
Hagley |
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1787/09/23 |
John and Abigail Adams buy an old house and 75 acres of land from Leonard Vassal Borlund for 600 pounds. |
Home |
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The Old House at Peacefield |
Quincy |
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1789/04/21 |
John Adams becomes first Vice President of the Unted States. |
Vice President |
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Federal Hall National Memorial |
New York City |
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Inauguration of the first President of the United States |
1790/07/10 |
George Washington and his cabinet (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Henry Knox, and Alexander Hamilton) dine at the Morris-Jumel Mansion. |
Visitor |
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Morris-Jumel Mansion |
New York City |
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1791/02/24 |
John Adams watches as James Otis argues before the Bench at Province House (lost) against the use of Writs of assistance which allow officials to search premises at will and repeatedly. Provence House was razed in 1922 but steps remain on Bosworth St. |
Life |
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Bromfield and Bosworth |
Boston |
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1797/03/04 |
John Adams is inaugurated as the second president of the United States. |
US President |
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Congress Hall |
Philadelphia, PA |
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1797/12/07 |
Castle William is renamed Fort Independence during a ceremony attended by President John Adams. |
US President |
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Fort Independence |
Boston |
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1798/03/00 |
Adams issues a proclamation: As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is ... an indispensable duty which the people owe .... |
US President |
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First Thanksgivings |
1799/10/03 |
Abigail and Oliver Ellsworth host President John Adams. |
Visitor |
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Oliver Ellsworth Homestead |
Windsor, CT |
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1800/05/28 |
President John Adams speaks and worships the Lutheran Church (lost) in Frederick, Maryland. |
Faith |
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Evangelical Lutheran Church, Frederick |
Frederick, MD |
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1800/06/06 |
President John Adams is honored at a banquet at Charles McLaughlin's Inn, where utmost harmony and conviviality prevail. Adams is in Georgetown to inspect the building of the new US capital. |
Honorary |
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City Tavern |
Washington, DC |
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1800/11/01 |
John Adams and his wife move into the unfinished brick and stone shell of the White House. The basement, containing work and chamber spaces for cooks, housekeepers and servants, probably seems more inviting than the principal rooms. |
Home |
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White House Executive Residence |
The White House |
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1801/00/00 |
Abigail and John Adams begin living at the Old House year-round. |
Home |
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The Old House at Peacefield |
Quincy |
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1801/01/00 |
After a year delay, Whitney demonstrates his, supposedly, precision made guns to public officials. Although, the US government provides additional funds, Whitney's guns are actually made by hand and the parts are not interchangeable. |
Spectator |
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Eli Whitney Gun Factory |
Hamden, CT |
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1809/00/00 |
A group of citizens, including John Adams, buy Hancock Cemetery and donate it to the town provided that it shall never hereafter allow the said burial ground to be used as pasture or any horse or cattle to run at large therein. |
Benefactor |
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Hancock Cemetery |
Quincy |
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1815/00/00 |
Late in life, John Adams has new memorials placed over four graves of his direct ancestors at Hancock Cemetery. Adams wrote the inscriptions himself. |
Benefactor |
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Hancock Cemetery |
Quincy |
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1822/06/25 |
John Adams deeds land for the building of the First Parish Church. Much of the granite will be quarried from the Adams family property. |
Benefactor |
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United First Parish Church (Unitarian) of Quincy |
Quincy |
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1822/07/25 |
John Adams conveys 8 acres of land in the Town of Quincy near the Meeting House in Quincy Center for a stone schoolhouse to be erected over the cellar which was under the House anciently built in 1733 by the Reverend John Hancock. |
Benefactor |
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Adams Academy, Quincy |
Quincy |
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1822/08/10 |
John Adams deeds to the Town of Quincy "fragments of my library" which included more than 3,000 volumes to be place in the future Adams Academy. As the Academy is yet to be built, the books are deposited in the new Quincy town hall. |
Benefactor |
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Quincy Town Hall |
Quincy |
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Journey of John Adams' Colonial Library |
1826/07/04 |
During a thunder storm, John Adams whispers "Thomas Jefferson survives" and soon after dies at The Old House at Peacefield in Quincy, Massachusetts. A final clap of thunder shakes the house before the rain stops and the sun shines through low clouds. |
Died |
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The Old House at Peacefield |
Quincy |
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50th Anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence |
1826/07/07 |
About 4,000 people attend the funeral for John Adams is held at the First Congregational Church in Quincy, Massachusetts. Mr Adams was buried at Hancock Cemetery. |
In Memoriam |
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Hancock Cemetery |
Quincy |
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1828/04/01 |
The remains of John Adams are interred in the Adams Crypt located in the basement under the vestibule of the First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts. |
In Memoriam |
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United First Parish Church (Unitarian) of Quincy |
Quincy |
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