Adams Memorial

The Adams Memorial is a proposed United States presidential memorial to honor the second President John Adams; his wife and prolific writer Abigail Adams; their son, the sixth President John Quincy Adams; John Quincy Adams' wife Louisa Catherine Adams; and other members of the Adams family including John Quincy Adam's son Charles Francis Adams, Sr., a Civil War diplomat, politician, and editor; and Charles' two sons, Henry Adams, a noted historian and autobiographer, and academician Brooks Adams.

The United States Congress authorized the Adams Memorial Foundation to proceed with the design and construction of a memorial on November 5, 2001.[1] The foundation was authorized to raise private funds to construct a memorial on federal land in Washington, D.C. Once established, the memorial was then to be turned over to the federal government. On December 2, 2002, Congress amended this legislation to permit the Adams Memorial to be constructed within Area 1, the central core of the District of Columbia centered on the National Mall.[1]

The Commemorative Works Clarification and Revision Act of 2003 (CWCRA), however, gave the Adams Memorial Foundation and other memorial efforts then under way just seven years to raise the funds and begin construction. When the memorial foundation was unable to raise the funds, Congress passed legislation on October 30, 2009, giving the Adams Memorial effort until September 30, 2010, to complete its fundraising. On December 2, 2009, Congress passed legislation applying the CWCRA to the Adams Memorial, although the clock began running with passage of the Area I authorization. Congress extended the deadline for fund-raising yet again on May 24, 2010, giving the memorial until December 2, 2013, to finish its efforts.[2]

Authorization for the Adams Memorial expired on December 2, 2013, without a memorial having begun construction.[2] Congress again reauthorized the memorial on July 22, 2014, extending the deadline to December 2, 2020.[3] Following the continued failure of the foundation to select a location and raise funds,[4] the 2019 John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act established an Adams Memorial Commission to establish the memorial, with members appointed by Congress.[5][4]