JQA's Boyhood
America's Infancy
1764
  
April 5, 1764: The English Parliament passes the Sugar Act.
October 25, 1764: John Adams and Abigail Smith marry.
 
1765
  
March 22 & 24, 1765: Parliament passes the Stamp and then the Quartering Acts.
July 14, 1765: John and Abigail's first child, Abigail 2d, is born.
 
1767
  
July 11, 1767: John Quincy Adams is born.
 
 
1768
  
December 28, 1768: Susanna Adams born. Only lives until February 4, 1770.
    
1770
  
March 5, 1770: The Boston Massacre.
May 29, 1770: Charles Adams is born.
 
1772
  
September 15, 1772: Thomas Boylston Adams is born.
 
November 2, 1772: The Committee of Correspondence is formed by Samuel Adams in Boston.
1773
  
December 16, 1773: Boston Tea Party.
1774
  
March 31, 1774: The Coercive, or "Intolerable," Acts are passed by Parliament.

May 20, 1774: Quebec Act passed.
September 5, 1774: First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia.
1775
  
April 19, 1775: The battles of Lexington and Concord are fought.
May 10, 1775: Second Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia.
June 17, 1775: JQA witnesses the Battle of Bunker Hill from Penn's Hill. His doctor, Joseph Warren, is among the patriot casualties.
 
1776
  
July 4, 1776: Congress approves the Declaration of Independence.
1777
  
October 17, 1777: The patriots stage an important victory at Saratoga.
1778
  
February 14, 1778: JQA boards the Boston to sail to France with his father.
 
1779
  
August 3, 1779: Father and son return home from Europe.
 
November 12, 1779: JQA begins his diary.
 
November 15, 1779: Brothers JQA and Charles accompany their father to Europe.
 
December 26, 1779-February 9, 1780: JA, JQA, and CA travel overland from northwestern Spain to Paris.
 
1781
  
March 1, 1781: The Articles of Confederation go into effect.
July 7, 1781: JQA sets off for St. Petersburg with Francis Dana.
 
October 19, 1781: General Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown.
1783
  
August 9, 1783: JQA and JA return to Paris, where JA, B. Franklin, and John Jay negotiate the Treaty of Paris.
 
September 3, 1783: The Treaty of Paris is signed.
1784
  
December 23, 1784: New York City becomes the nation's temporary capital.
1785
  

August 25, 1785: JQA returns to Massachusetts to prepare for Harvard College.