# Timeline of the John Adams presidency

* This article is part of a series aboutJohn Adams
Early life
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Electoral history
Legacy
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1st Vice President of the United States
Vice Presidency
2nd President of the United States
Inauguration
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timeline
Cabinet appointments
Judicial appointments
XYZ Affair
Alien and Sedition Acts
Fries's Rebellion
Treaty of Tellico
Treaty of Tripoli
State of the Union Address
1797
1798
1799
1800
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Thoughts on Government
Defense of Constitutions
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1789 election
1792 election
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1800 election
Post-presidency
Correspondence with Jefferson
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The presidency of John Adams began on March 4, 1797, when John Adams was inaugurated the 2nd president of the United States and ended on March 4, 1801.

## 1797
### March 1797

* March 4 – John Adams is inaugurated as the 2nd president of the United States and delivers his inaugural address. He retains the cabinet members of his predecessor, George Washington. Thomas Jefferson becomes vice president of the United States.
* March 5 – Adams suggests to his treasury secretary Oliver Wolcott Jr. that they work with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to form a bipartisan commission to negotiate with France. This causes an argument between Adams and Wolcott.
* March 25 – Adams schedules a special session of the United States Congress for May 15 to address deteriorating relations between France and the United States. The Democratic-Republican Party protests, fearing that Adams intends to declare war on France.

### May 1797

* May 10 – The USS United States, the first frigate constructed for the American navy, launches at Philadelphia.
* May 16 – Adams addresses a joint session of Congress to discuss defense of the East Coast from French attack. The speech is criticized by the Jeffersonians, who see it as warmongering and as demonstrating sympathies toward the British.
* May 31 – Adams nominates Francis Dana, John Marshall, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as a diplomatic envoy to France.

### June 1797

* June 5 – The United States Senate confirms Adams' nominations for the envoy to France.
* June 12 – Adams delivers a message to Congress recommending the creation of Natchez, which was eventually created as the Mississippi Territory.
* June 20 – Adams nominates Elbridge Gerry for the envoy to France after Dana declines.
* June 22 – The Senate confirms Gerry's appointment to the envoy.
* June 24 – Adams signs a bill allowing him to command state governments to raise militias of 80,000 men.

### July 1797

* July
** The Senate authorizes the addition of twelve frigates to the navy, with 16 supporting and 13 opposed.
** Several members of the Federalist Party express reservations about Adams' proposed defense initiatives, and he special session of Congress ends without their passage despite the Federalists' majority.
* July 19 – Adams departs for his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, after Congress adjourns.
* July 22 – Adams establishes the United States Mint and ends the recognition of foreign currencies as legal tender.

### September 1797

* September 4 – A coup takes place in France, replacing the government with one more hostile to the United States.
* September 9 – The USS Constellation launches at Baltimore.

### October 1797

* October 4 – The diplomatic envoy arrives in France.
* October 18 – In what came to be known as the XYZ Affair, French officials solicit a bribe from the American envoy to France if they are to speak to foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.
* October 21 – The USS Constitution launches at Boston.

### November 1797

* November 22 – Adams delivers the 1797 State of the Union Address. He talks about national defense and says it should be funded by taxes instead of loans.
* November 28 – Adams formally expresses his belief to the Senate that a merchant navy should be established.

### December 1797
## 1798
### January 1798

* January 8 – The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, granting states sovereign immunity in federal court.
* January 17 – Adams forms a commission to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee Nation.
* January 24 – Adams sends requests to his cabinet members, seeking advice as to whether the United States should align with Great Britain in the event of war with France.

### March 1798

* March 4 – Adams receives letters from the diplomatic envoy to France describing the XYZ affair.
* March 13 – Adams consults with his cabinet to decide whether to share news of the XYZ affair with Congress and whether to propose a declaration of war.
* March 19 – Adams reports to Congress that negotiations with France were unsuccessful. He does not disclose the nature of the XYZ affair.
* March 23 – Adams sends an order recalling the diplomatic envoy if negotiations had not begun.
* March 30 – Congressman William Branch Giles introduces a resolution demanding release of the diplomatic envoy's reports.

### April 1798

* April 2 – The House of Representatives votes to approve Giles' resolution demanding release of the diplomatic envoy's reports as well as its original instructions, with 65 in favor and 27 opposed.
* April 3 – Adams reports the XYZ affair to Congress, detailing attempts by the French government to solicit bribes from the American envoy.
* April 7 – Adams signs a bill to create the Mississippi Territory and ban the importation of foreign slaves into it. He names Natchez as its capital and appoints Winthrop Sargent as its governor.
* April 8 – Representative Samuel Sewall introduces a bill that would implement Adams' desired naval defenses and a provisional army.
* April 27 – Congress permits Adams to organize a fleet of 12 gunboats.
* April 30 – Adams signs a bill creating the Department of the Navy.

### May 1798

* May 3 – Adams appoints Benjamin Stoddert as the first Secretary of the Navy.
* May 4 – A Senate committee releases a report suggesting the creation of what became the Alien and Sedition Acts.
* May 21 – The Senate confirms the appointment of Stoddert as Secretary of the Navy.
* May 27 – French newspapers report that the XYZ affair has been made public in the United States, effectively ending negotiations between the countries.
* May 28 – Adams signs a bill granting him the power to raise a federal army of 10,000 men in the event of an invasion. It also grants him the power to authorize seizure of French vessels that attack American merchantmen.

### June 1798

* June – The Non-Intercourse Act makes it illegal for Americans to engage in trade with France.
* June 18 – Adams signs the first of four Alien and Sedition Acts: the Amendments to the Naturalization Act of 1795. This mandates non-citizen residents to register and bars citizenship for people from nations at war with the United States. It requires that residents live in the United States and declare their intention to seek citizenship for five years before they can be naturalized.
* June 21 – Adams delivers a message to Congress, declaring that he "will never send another minister to France without assurances that he will be received, respected, and honored as the representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation". The Arch Federalists see this as provoking war.
* June 25 – Adams signs the second of four Alien and Sedition Acts: the Alien Act. This gives him the power to deport any non-citizen residents he deems a threat to the United States.

### July 1798

* July 1 – The Federalists try and fail to gain the votes for a declaration of war against France.
* July 2 – Adams nominates George Washington to be lieutenant general and commander-in-chief of the army. The Senate confirms him the following day.
* July 6 – Adams signs the third of four Alien and Sedition Acts: the Alien Enemies Act. This legalizes the arrest or deportation of men from nations that are enemies of the United States.
* July 7
** Adams signs a bill voiding all treaties between France and the United States.
** Washington is formally named commander-in-chief of the army.
* July 9 – The Quasi–War begins when Adams signs a bill granting all American vessels legal authority to capture armed French vessels anywhere in the ocean.
* July 13 – Washington accepts Adams' nomination as commander-in-chief.
* July 14
** Adams signs the fourth and final of the Alien and Sedition Acts: the Sedition Act. This criminalizes false or malicious statements about the government, obstruction of government operations, and incitement of insurrection or unlawful assembly. It enables the Adams administration to penalize criticism against it.
** Adams signs a bill setting taxes on dwellings, land, and slaves so as to fund military preparation amid tensions with France.
* July 16 – Adams signs a bill defining the structure of the army.
* July 18 – Adams appointed 14 officers to the army. This includes his rival Alexander Hamilton, whom he appoints inspector general.
* Late July – Adams leaves Philadelphia for his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, after Congress adjourns.

### September 1798

* September 12 – Newspaper editor Benjamin Franklin Bache, grandson of founding father Benjamin Franklin, is arrested under the Sedition Act for his criticism of John Adams.

### November 1798

* November 10 – Thomas Jefferson publishes the Kentucky Resolution condemning the Sedition Act as abuse of power.
* November 16 – The state legislature of Kentucky adopts the Kentucky Resolution.
* Mid-November – A British squadron intercepts and searches the USS Baltimore sloop-of-war. Adams dismisses the ship's captain, Isaac Phillips, for allowing the search without resistance.
* November 25 – Adams returns to the capital in Philadelphia. He departed from his Quincy, Massachusetts, home reluctantly as his wife had fallen ill. He immediately meets with his cabinet to consider whether a new diplomatic envoy should be sent to France or if war should be declared.

### December 1798

* December 8 – Adams delivers the 1798 State of the Union Address.
* December 21 – James Madison publishes the Virginia Resolution condemning the Alien and Sedition Acts as abuse of power.

## 1799
### January 1799

* January – Federal tax collectors are forcefully resisted by the people of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

### February 1799

* February 9 – The USS Constellation, commanded by Thomas Truxtun wins a battle and captures the French L'Insurgente. L'Insurgente had to this point attacked several American merchant ships.
* February 18 – Adams announces a new diplomatic envoy to France.
* February 23 – Adams meets with a commission of his rival Arch Federalists, led by Theodore Sedgwick, to negotiate Adams' decision to appoint William Vans Murray in the diplomatic envoy to France. Fearing that such collaboration might be unconstitutional, Adams agreed on the condition that their meeting not be included in the report.
* February 25
** Adams nominates a diplomatic envoy to France consisting of Oliver Ellsworth, Patrick Henry, and William Vans Murray.
** The necessity of lumber for naval purposes leads to Adams signing the first American law governing forests.
* February 27 – The Senate confirms Adams' nominations for the diplomatic envoy to France.

### March 1799

* March 6 – Farmers in the Pennsylvania Dutch community lead Fries's Rebellion, an armed uprising against federal tax collectors in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
* March 7 – John Fries, the leader of Fries's Rebellion, leads 150 men to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where they force a marshal to release three people who has been arrested for not paying the federal tax.
* March 10 – Adams holds a cabinet meeting in his home to discuss what terms for peace they would demand from France.
* March 12 – Adams issues a proclamation declaring the actions of Fries's Rebellion to be treason and orders the rebels to disperse. He authorizes military force to end the rebellion.
* Mid-March – Adams leaves Philadelphia for his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, eight days after Congress adjourns.

### May 1799

* May – Adams' wife Abigail Adams holds her first reception as first lady.
* May 15 – John Fries and two associates are found guilty of treason for rebelling against federal taxes. Their conviction is later voided by a technicality and a second trial is scheduled.

### June 1799

* June – Patrick Henry declines to join the diplomatic envoy to France and is replaced by William Richardson Davie.
* June 16 – Adams lifts the American embargo on Saint-Domingue.

### July 1799

* July 11 – The Treaty of Amity is signed between Prussia and the United States.

### September 1799

* September 9 – Three naval squadrons, each made up of one frigate and five brigs, are created and launched.

### October 1799

* October 15 – Adams holds an evening meeting with his cabinet that lasts until nearly midnight to consider revising the instructions for the diplomatic envoy to France. They determine that any agreement should not involve protection of French territories in the Western Hemisphere but should include a board of commissioners to resolve American claims of damage against France.
* October 26 – Political philosopher Thomas Cooper is convicted of libel under the Sedition Act for his criticism of John Adams.

### November 1799

* November 3 – Oliver Ellsworth and William Richardson Davie depart from Newport, Rhode Island, as a diplomatic envoy to France.
* November 27 – The diplomatic envoy arrives at Lisbon, where they rest on their way to France.

### December 1799

* December 3 – Adams delivers the 1799 State of the Union Address.
* December 6 – Adams refers the Treaty of Amity to Congress for ratification.
* December 14 – George Washington dies.
* December 21 – After a delay caused by bad weather, the diplomatic envoy departs from Portugal to Paris.

## 1800
### January 1800

* January 10 – Congress ratifies the Treaty with Tunis, which had been signed in 1797.
* January 17 – Adams signs a bill criminalizing provocative communications with Native American tribes.

### February 1800

* February 1 – The USS Constellation wins a battle against the French ship La Vengeance.
* February 20 – Adams signs a bill ending enlistment in the army until war between France and the United States takes place.

### March 1800

* March 2 – The diplomatic envoy arrives in Paris.

### April 1800

* April 1 – The diplomatic envoy to France reaches its deadline to return, but they choose to continue negotiations.
* April 4 – Adams signs the Bankruptcy Act of 1800. It is repealed three years later.
* April 24
** Adams signs a bill authorizing the creation of a national capital in Washington, D.C., relocating from the previous capital in Philadelphia.
** A resolution passes to create the Library of Congress.

### May 1800

* May 3 – The Federalist Party nominates Adams as its candidate for the 1800 presidential election.
* May 5 – Adams has a meeting with James McHenry, his Secretary of War, which becomes a heated argument and sours the relationship between the two.
* May 6 – McHenry declares his resignation as Secretary of War, effective June 1.
* May 7 – Adams signs a bill establishing the Indiana Territory from part of the Northwest Territory.
* May 10 – Adams sends a message to Timothy Pickering, his Secretary of State, suggesting that Pickering resign.
* May 12 – Adams receives a reply from Pickering that he will not resign as Secretary of State, so Adams dismisses him from the position. This is the first instance of a president removing a cabinet member.
* May 13 – Adams signs a bill establishing that the next session of Congress will be held in Washington, D.C.
* May 21 – Adams issues pardons to the leaders of Fries's Rebellion, sparing them the death penalty. This is protested by his cabinet, the Federalist Party, and the Pennsylvania German community.

### June 1800

* June 1 – Washington D.C. becomes the capital of the United States.

### September 1800

* September 30 – The Convention of 1800 creates peace between France and the United States after a new French state is established by Napoleon. The diplomatic envoy chooses to sign it even though it does not include the American demands of France renouncing the previous treaties or compensating the U.S. Although the physical signing of the document took place at two o' clock in the morning on October 1, September 30 is understood to be the date it took effect. The signing of the treaty effectively ends the Quasi–War.

### October 1800

* October 1 – The Treaty of San Ildefonso is signed between France and Spain, granting France the territory of Louisiana.
* October 13 – Adams departs from Quincy, Massachusetts, on the way to Washington, D.C., making stops along the way.

### November 1800

* November 1 – Adams arrives in Washington, D.C. He moves into the White House, then known as the President's House.
* November 7 – News reaches the American public that a peace treaty has been signed with France.
* November 11 – The 1800 elections take place in the United States. Adams loses the presidential election to Thomas Jefferson.
* November 13 – Adams learns he has lost the presidential election after receiving unofficial results from South Carolina.
* November 22 – Adams delivers the 1800 State of the Union Address where he expresses optimism in regard to relations with France.

### December 1800

* December 3 – The Electoral College meets to confirm the next president.
* December 11 – William Richardson Davie returns to the United States with a copy of the Convention of 1800.
* December 15 – Adams submits the Convention of 1800 to the Senate.
* December 31 – Oliver Wolcott Jr. resigns as Secretary of the Treasury.

## 1801
### January 1801

* January 20 – Adams nominates John Marshall to the Supreme Court to replace Oliver Ellsworth.
* January 23 – A vote to ratify the Convention of 1800 fails in the Senate with 16 votes in favor and 14 against, falling below the required 20-vote supermajority.
* January 27 – The Senate confirms Marshall's nomination to the Supreme Court.

### February 1801

* February 4 – John Marshall accepts Adams' nomination of him as Supreme Justice of the United States.
* February 11 – Electoral votes are counted in Congress. As electoral ballots made no distinction between presidential and vice presidential votes, Jefferson ties with his vice presidential running mate Aaron Burr.
* February 13 – Adams signs the Judiciary Act of 1801 to reshape the federal judiciary.
* February 17 – The House of Representatives votes to confirm Jefferson as the winner of the presidential election.
* February 20 – Adams writes a note for Jefferson in anticipation of the presidential transition.

### March 1801

* March 4 – Adams' presidency ends and Jefferson is inaugurated as president.