John Adams (1735 - 1826)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during John's lifetime.

In 1802, by the time he was 67 years old, on March 16, Congress established the United States Military Academy at West Point - the oldest of the five service academies in the United States and one of the oldest service academies in the world.

In 1804, when he was 69 years old, on July 11th, Alexander Hamilton, former Secretary of the Treasury, and Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States, fought a duel. Alexander Hamilton was shot and died the next day. Burr was indicted for murder and was acquitted but his political career was ruined.

In 1810, John was 75 years old when on September 23rd, the Republic of West Florida - now the eastern part of Louisiana - declared independence from Spain. The Republic lasted only a few months - until the United States annexed it later in the same year.

In 1816, by the time he was 81 years old, on December 11th, Indiana was admitted as the 19th state in the Union. The name "Indiana" means “land of the Indians”.

In 1826, in the year of John Adams's passing, on March 10th, João VI, King of Portugal and the former Emperor of Brazil, died after a short illness. Six days earlier, the King had become ill after eating at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon. An investigative autopsy in the late 1990's discovered that he had been killed by arsenic poisoning - having enough arsenic in his body to kill two people.