While on the Fourth of July this year we begin to focus on the start of a year full of activity, celebration, and remembrance of the day 250 years ago July 4, 2026 when the colonies took the giant and successful step to refute the strongest power in the world, we should still remember and commemorate July 4, 2026, as the 200th anniversary of the death of the two men who were such formidable forces in having the Declaration written, approved, and the birth of a new nation a reality.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were friends, one from Virginia, one from Massachusetts.
One was tall and red-headed, the other short, dark haired;
One was quiet, preferring to write than speak publicly, the other boisterous, outspoken, impulsive.
The Southerner was younger by nine years, both were married and had devoted wives, both were fathers who had lost children to the disease and medical insufficiency of the era.
Both loved their country. So much so that they continued to serve it for decades after they first put their signatures on the Declaration.
So much so that they were both thinking of July 4, 1776, even at the time of their deaths 50 years later.
It was Thomas Jefferson who died first; weak and ill in his bed at Monticello, Jefferson’s last words, uttered shortly after midnight, were “Is it the Fourth?” a signal that the third President of the United States was aware the nation was about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence.
Several hours later, in his death bed at home in Quincy, Massachusetts, John Adams last words were “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” He had no way of knowing his former friend had died earlier the same day hundreds of miles away.
That Adams and Jefferson were friends at the time of their deaths is indicative of the kind of men they were….smart, understanding, practical, forgiving.
It had not always been so. Adams beat Jefferson when both vied to be the second President of the United States, after both had served under Washington’s first presidency, Adams as vice-president, Jefferson as secretary of state. But Adams lost to Jefferson when running for his second term as the second President of the United States and the differences in the way the two governed caused consternation between them.
But years later a friend drew them back together, suggesting they write to each other, and thus began many years of renewing a friendship and mutual respect they had forged before they signed the Declaration.
The two Presidents also each made names and significant accomplishments for themselves in other than being two of the 56 delegates on that famous document.
Adams was the first vice-president of the United States, the first to live in the White House, though it was only for a matter of months; Jefferson was the first President to live there for his entire two terms in office. Abigail Adams may have hung her wash to dry in the Blue Room for a couple of months, but Martha Jefferson never got to live there; she had died six years after her husband left her at home in Virginia to fight for independence in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Neither the second nor third President served in the military; after General George Washington commanded these troops in the Revolution, it wasn’t until James Madison became president that a former army officer was commander-in-chief.
Colonel Madison had served as commander of the Orange County Regiment in the Virginia Militia.
John Adams became the first of only two presidents whose sons also became President, when his son, John Quincy, was elected in 1825 when the House of Representatives decided the outcome of the election.
Thomas Jefferson earned his degree from the College of William and Mary, Adams earned his from Harvard. Jefferson was a farmer, inventor, and musician, Adams a minister for a short time, a teacher, and finally a lawyer.
As a farmer and thinker who learned wherever he was, Jefferson introduced the tomato to the nation, bringing it, along with knowledge of how to make ice cream back from his times in France. He also introduced French fries to America, liking the way the French prepared their potatoes; Adams felt his friend was putting on airs, though French fries not only caught on immediately but are still so popular today.
Jefferson was the first President to have the State of the Union read to Congress rather than presenting it in person. As a requirement under Article 2 of the Constitution, Washington had delivered his Address in New York, then the capital. Adams delivered the first State of the union Address in the new Capitol at Washington.
But Jefferson, who was adverse to public speaking and also felt giving the address himself would be too similar to England’s Speech from the Throne, had copies of his Address read by clerks in both the House and the Senate.
It wasn’t until Woodrow Wilson revived the original tradition in 1913 that the address was given in person.
In addition to Adams and Jefferson, only President James Monroe died on the Fourth of July, when he died on the Fourth of July in 1831, six years after he stepped down as President.
Calvin Coolidge is the only President to have been born on the nation’s birthday. He was born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont on July 4, 1872, and served as President from 1823 to 1928, declining to serve more than two terms in office.
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