{"data":{"description":"Archiving Early America - Thomas Jefferson And John Adams Both Died On The Same 4th Of July! Coincidence?","title":"Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Both Died On The Same 4th of July! Coincidence?","post_type":"post","content":"\u003cstrong\u003eBy Don Vitale\u003c/strong\u003e\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAre you with me on this? Can you possibly believe the odds that two Founding Fathers would die on the Fourth of July. To be precise...on July 4th, 1826. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Both men on the same day...in the same year.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd not just any July 4th. Nosiree my good friends, it was the July 4th celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.\r\n\r\nThe two Founders were John Adams, America's second President, and Thomas\r\nJefferson who served as the country's third President.\r\n\r\nWhat happened not only stretches the imagination, it bogles the mind.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nEven more so as these two Founders played a crucial role in creating\r\nthe Declaration of Independence. If you remember your history, you'll\r\nrecall that both men worked with each other to draft that historic\r\ndocument, published on July 4th, 1776.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAs I said, friends, how do you explain both men dying hours apart\r\non the same day? Hundreds of miles away. At the very least many days of overland travel. Adams died at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, Jefferson\r\ndied at his home in Monticello, Virginia.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAre we talking coincidence?\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBy all accounts both men had health problems.\r\nBoth were elderly. Adams was 90, Jefferson 83.\r\nBut if you asked me, I'd have to say No, if only because I personally don't believe in \"coincidences\".\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBecause their deaths occurred almost simultaneously, some talked about\r\n\"Divine Intervention.\" Noted members of the clergy as well as\r\nprominent politicians at the time felt that it was a sign that America and its\r\npeople were exceptional, blessed by God. Eulogies and heartfelt\r\nspeeches abounded attributing the extraordinary event to divine\r\nprovidence.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nYou should know that the record shows that both men were aware that the\r\n50th anniversary of the 4th of July was at hand. You have to assume that both\r\nwere enfeebled but just hanging on. At 90 you aren't exactly looking forward\r\nto a Grand Tour of Europe to see the sights. Rather, more like waiting for\r\nyour last moments.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhich brings us to another explanation: John Tyler, a lawmaker from Virginia who eventually would become America's 10th President, claimed that Jefferson had often expressed the wish that he die on the Fourth of July.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nIn a letter to Adams Jefferson described a mutual friend's debilities:\r\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\"It is at most but the life of a cabbage, surely not worth a wish\r\nWhen all our faculties have left, or are leaving us, one by one,\r\nsight, hearing, memory, every avenue of pleasure is closed,\r\nand athumy, debility and malaise left in their places, when\r\nthe friends of our youth are all gone, and a generation is risen  around us who we not know, is death an evil?\"\u003c/blockquote\u003e\r\nAdams in his last year of life replied to Jefferson:\r\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\"I answer your question, is Death an Evil. It is not\r\nan Evil. It is a blessing to the individual, and to\r\nthe world. Yet we ought not to wish for it till\r\nlife becomes insupportable; we must wait the\r\nthe pleasure and convenience of this great teacher.\"\u003c/blockquote\u003e\r\nThose on the edge of death can withhold medicine that is fatal.\r\nThat was the Death on Purpose explanation.\r\nThis possibility was talked about by those who knew the men,\r\nthat both Jefferson and Adams held on to life until the 50th\r\nanniversary of the July Fourth.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDid that happen? Did any of the other reasons held by friends\r\nexplain the extraordinary event: two of the most high-profile\r\nFounding Fathers dying on the Fourth of July in the same year.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAdams' niece Louisa Smith was in the room when he died. At 1 p.m. she  heard Adams say 'Thomas Jefferson survives.' There is a debate as to what Adams said exactly....but it indicates that Adams (and most probably Jefferson) was aware that it was the 'Fourth of July'.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAs I said before, I myself-- well, I don't buy into \"coincidence.\" Doesn't mean their deaths just happened for no other reason except that they were both at an elderly age.\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nNor am I able to even proffer a guess.\r\nThis story has lots of background that I had to ignore in order to\r\naccommodate the metrics of this blog. Do some research on the\r\nsubject, decide on an opinion...until such time when we shall\r\nrevisit this fascinating, though perplexing, event.\u003cstrong\u003e--dv\u003c/strong\u003e","menu":[{"path":"lives-early-america","title":"Famous Lives","submenu":[{"path":"lives-early-america/autobiography-benjamin-franklin","title":"Autobiography of Ben Franklin"},{"path":"lives-early-america/ramsays-life-washington","title":"Ramsay's The Life of Washington"},{"path":"lives-early-america/adventures-col-daniel-boone","title":"The Adventures of Col. 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