Did you know that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both Died on July 4, 1826? From what I gather, Adams had vowed to outlive Jefferson; his final words were, "Thomas Jefferson Survives". What he didn't know was that Jefferson himself had passed away only hours earlier. Both men, principal to the founding of our country, both champions of our independence (while Jefferson was the man who penned most of the document, Adams was the one who went before the continental congress and gave it the "hard sell"), died on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. I'll be damned if that ain't downright patriotic.
Here's a neat obituary I found on google image search:
If the image is blurry click it to view the original size.
images used without permission.
way cool; i may have known this once, long ago. good to be reminded.
ReplyDeletenota bene: adams had an adoring wife and strong family (as evidenced by his son, john quincy, who followed him into the presidency). jefferson kept his bastard slave children hidden at monticello where guests from washington couldn't help noting the resemblance to the president as his red-headed slave sons waited on the dinner table. good grief. so much for "all men are created equal." a good/fictionalized biography of jefferson's slave mistress might be eponimous and include "sally henning" but may not be recalling correctly. get this: she was the half-sister (via a slave mother) of jefferson's wife, and the two looked remarkably alike. thus it is supposed that he took sally into his arms as comfort when the wife died.