July 4th, 1776 is of course the day America marks its birth and celebrates the bonds of freedom and fellowship that bind us as a nation. But on the 50th anniversary of that monumental day--as the lives of America's founders drew to a close--the ties of freedom and fellowship overcame the politics that tore them apart and united them one last time.
This is the Forgotten History of July 4th, 1826.
July 4th, 1826. As his beloved nation celebrates 50 years of independence, a 90 year-old man lies dying. 50 years ago, he was instrumental in winning that nation its independence, but today, as he draws his final breaths, his final thoughts aren't of his nation, its independence, or of his own illustrious place in both; they're of his friend.
50 years ago, they stood together against the world's most powerful empire, declaring with one voice that they were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
July 4th, 1776. A 40 year-old man stands in the Pennsylvania State House and nods approvingly. He has been instrumental in convincing his fellow members of the Second Continental Congress to declare independence from Great Britain, and now John Adams is watching his dream--the United States of America--come true.
"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another." The words could not be more eloquent, the arguments could not be more persuasive, this Declaration of Independence could not be more perfect.
Adams smiles proudly at his friend, a 33 year-old firebrand named Thomas Jefferson. The words were Jefferson's, but the arguments were theirs together, and in one voice they had just started a revolution. Together, they had just won approval for one of the most significant documents in human history.
Though history would remember Jefferson as the author, it was Adams who persuaded their colleagues to allow him to write the original draft. Any misgivings over one of the youngest delegates assuming such a monumental task were assuaged by Adams' faith in him.
After America won its independence, the two grew even closer while serving as diplomats for the young nation in France. Yet theirs was a friendship as unusual as it was dear since their political philosophies were as different as could be imagined. Adams advocated for a strong federal government, while Jefferson supported more authority delegated to the states.
While Jefferson noted that they were often "separated by different conclusions we had drawn from our political reading," they remained the closest of friends. As Adams wrote to Jefferson, "correspondence with you...is one of the most agreeable events in my life."
July 4th, 1791. As his beloved nation celebrates 15 years of independence, a 55 year-old man stands in his office. Adams is that nation's first Vice President, and his good friend Jefferson is its first Secretary of State. They are as close as ever, and even their growing political differences in President George Washington's Cabinet can't shake their friendship.
Five years later, even running for President against each other can't shake their friendship. In America's first contested presidential election, Adams defeated Jefferson in what what was to be America's last presidential election that featured no mudslinging. As was the custom at the time, neither Adams nor Jefferson actively campaigned for the office and, as was the custom at the time, because Jefferson finished second in the race, he became Adams' Vice President.
But for the first time in their long friendship, their political differences would come between them.
When Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts into law in 1798, Jefferson was appalled. He believed that the President, a Federalist, was abusing the office and trying to criminalize his Democratic-Republican Party and he all but abandoned the Adams Administration for his estate at Monticello, where he plotted to take his nation back from this new threat to liberty.
July 4th, 1800. A 64 year-old man paces nervously in his office. President Adams has just read the latest smear from his former friend: "Adams is a hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."
Jefferson's allies were merciless. For the first time in American history, a presidential election was turning bitter, nasty, and personal. Adams' allies called Jefferson "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father." What were once "different conclusions drawn from...political reading" were now outright slanders.
Adams was a tyrant. Jefferson was a coward. Adams was a criminal, Jefferson a weakling. Adams was a fool, Jefferson an atheist. When Jefferson finally won the Election of 1800 in a landslide, Adams retaliated by making last-minute appointments of men who Jefferson wrote "were from among my most ardent political enemies."
Politics had finally ended their friendship.
July 4th, 1811. As his beloved nation celebrates 35 years of independence, a 75 year-old man sits in his living room, thinking about a guest he has just had in his home--a neighbor of his old friend-turned-sworn enemy Thomas Jefferson. It's been two years since Jefferson followed Washington's example and retired from the Presidency after his second term, but Adams still can't forget about the ugliness of the 1800 Election.
Still, something is gnawing at him. Even after all of the ugliness, even after all of the political differences that somehow mutated into bitterly personal insults, he still misses his friend. And he had told Jefferson's neighbor "I always loved Jefferson, and still love him."
When Jefferson heard his neighbor say this, he wrote to one of his and Adams' old friends, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence, to say "this is enough for me. I only needed this knowledge to revive towards [Adams] all of the affections of the most cordial moments of our lives."
When Dr. Rush relayed this to Adams with the message that Jefferson wanted to write him again, Adams was overjoyed and sent Jefferson a letter immediately. Jefferson sent one back, and the two resumed their friendship through hundreds of letters--discussing everything from their Revolutionary days to their time in France to politics to their families to their thoughts on aging and mortality.
Though politics had made them bitter enemies, their love and respect for each other made them friends again.
July 4th, 1826. As his beloved nation celebrates 50 years of independence, a 90 year-old man lies dying. 50 years ago, he pushed that nation toward its independence and persuaded a Congress to let his friend write the declaration. 35 years ago, he was that nation's leader and his friend was his Vice President. 15 years ago, that friend was his sworn enemy, but today, as he draws his final breaths, his final words are of his friend: "Thomas Jefferson survives."
Adams could not have known that Jefferson had died five hours earlier.