Because the story goes, the well-known final phrases attributed to John Adams on July 4, 1826 (the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence) had been:
“Thomas Jefferson survives.”
The profound historic irony was that Jefferson really died first. Thomas Jefferson died a number of hours earlier that very same day at Monticello on July 4th – the day of American Independence. Adams was unaware that, mendacity on his deathbed in Quincy, Massachusetts, he had no method of understanding Jefferson had already handed away. His closing phrases mirrored his perception that his longtime pal, staunch rival, since Adams was a Federalist, but each had been fellow Founding Fathers, was nonetheless alive.
Adams and Jefferson, the 2nd and third Presidents of the US, had been central figures within the American Revolution and the nation’s founding. Their relationship was complicated: they had been initially shut collaborators, then bitter political enemies, and eventually reconciled mates via correspondence of their later years. Their deaths on the identical day – the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which they each helped create – was seen by the nation as a divine signal affirming the American experiment.
Adams’ final phrases, mentioning Jefferson, underscored their intertwined legacies, even in demise. The truth that he was mistaken about Jefferson surviving added a layer of poignant irony that captivated the nation. What Adams really stated (Slight Variations), in line with eyewitness accounts (like his son John Quincy Adams and others current), reported slight variations, however the core that means is constant.
In essence, John Adams’ closing ideas and phrases had been of his fellow Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, expressing a perception in Jefferson’s continued life that was tragically and poetically incorrect, cementing their shared future in American historical past and reminiscence.
