4 july 1826: jefferson and adams

This week I have finished watching/reading the John Adams miniseries and The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed. The latter was a really interesting read (even though it took me months to work through all of the text!); it was fun to read more about Jefferson's personal life (instead of his political life).

The miniseries was also really informative and interesting. I didn't know much about Adams before watching these episodes, but I can see why David McCullough finds Adams to be so fascinating. I particularly was impressed with John and Abigail Adams' great relationship.

Anyhow, my favorite historical factoid that I learned from the miniseries was this: The 4 July 1826 was an important day in American history, since it was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Furthermore, on this same day the two surviving signers of the Declaration, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both died. The two men had renewed their friendship and correspondence late in life, and then ended up dying on the same day. From what I read here, Jefferson died just a few hours before Adams.

Isn't it crazy that both men died on such a significant anniversary?