1755: Born in Massachusetts

1755-1758: Teaches grammar school

1756: Begins studying law

1758: Admitted to the bar of the State of Massachusetts

1773: Serves in Massachusetts state legislature

1774: Serves as delegate to First Continental Congress and to Second Continental Congress (1775)

1779: Elected to Massachusetts Constitutional Convention and authors the state constitution

1780-85: Serves as U.S. envoy in France and the Netherlands ; member of negotiation committee for the Treaty of Paris, 1783

1785-88: Serves as U.S. minister to Britain

1789-97: Serves as vice president under George Washington

1796-1801: Serves as second U.S. president

1826: Dies in Massachusetts