John Adams died quietly at six o’clock on the evening of July 4, 1826 at the age of 91. His last words were: “Jefferson survives.” He did not know that on the same day in Monticello, Virginia, his long-time rival Thomas Jefferson had breathed his last at the age of 82. On July 4th 1826, John Adams died around 6:20 PM, it is said that in his last words he paid tribute to his lifelong friend and political rival saying "Thomas Jefferson survives", unaware that Thomas Jefferson had left this world sometime earlier that same morning. On this day in history, in 1826, two of the most important founding fathers of the United States–John Adams and Thomas Jefferson–died fifty years after the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress. The two men had divergent personalities and backgrounds. Adams, a Massachusetts lawyer and farmer, came from Puritan John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, July 4, 1826. Both were old men—Adams was 90, and Jefferson was 83—and both were ill, though Adams had been in comparatively robust health until just a few months earlier and Jefferson had been ill for an extended period. On July 3, 1826, just a day before the 50th birthday of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson fell into a coma after suffering from a long, intestinal illness. He died on July 4th. Meanwhile John Adams, who was nearing his 91st birthday, collapsed in his reading chair on July 4th. The Fourth of July has the strange distinction of being the day that three presidents died. Two of them—John Adams and Thomas Jefferson—passed just five hours apart in 1826. Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2], 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. [6] He was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was the nation's first U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then the nation's second vice president under John Adams. Jefferson was a leading The deaths of former U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on July 4, 1826–the day of the Jubilee–the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, was an extraordinary and eerie coincidence. Jefferson died shortly after noon at the age of 83 in Monticello, Virginia. When Thomas Jefferson died on a summer day in 1826, his death captivated Americans — not because of its cause, but because of the circumstances that surrounded it. The former president died on July 4, the 50th anniversary of American Independence. And Thomas Jefferson died just hours before John Adams, his fellow Founding Father. On July 4, 1826, two prominent presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, took their final breaths within hours of each other. Some have wondered if it was somehow planned. More unlikely still, Adams and Jefferson died just hours apart on the exact same day: July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of American independence. The fact that America’s second, third, and fifth Presidents all died on the same day has sparked a certain degree of speculation. It is a fact of American history that three Founding Father Presidents—John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe—died on July 4, the Independence Day anniversary. The approach of the fiftieth birthday of the United States, in 1826, naturally animated the minds of Americans with thoughts of the nation’s past, the heritage they had received from those who had asserted and won independence, and the dwindling number of Revolutionary leaders who survived. By far the most conspicuous survivors were three men who had signed the Declaration of Independence On this day in 1826, which marked the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died within hours of each other. Adams was 90; Finally, both died July 4, 1826, on the country's fiftieth birthday. Despite the fact that they were political rivals during their presidential years, they became reconciled in old age as they reflected on their mutual accomplishments. In fact, Adams is said to have spoken Jefferson's name moments before he died. DEATHS OF JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON* J ohn Adams and Thomas 1efferson died on the same day, 1uly 4, 1826. Both were old men-Adams was 90, and Jefferson was 83-and both were ill, though Adams had been in comparatively robust health until just a few months earlier and Jefferson had been ill for an extended period. They had been rivals, indeed enemies, for some time; Jefferson had defeated Old friends who had their share of political disagreements on the nature of the new American democracy, they had grown old in their home states, and—ironically and unbeknownst to Adams—died on the same day, July 4, 1826, exactly fifty years after they had ratified the passage of the Declaration of Independence. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, July 4, 1826. Both were old men--Adams was 90, and Jefferson was 83--and both were ill, though Adams had been in comparatively robust health until just a few months earlier and Jefferson had been ill for an extended period. They had been rivals, indeed enemies, for some time; Jefferson had defeated Adams in the presidential election of 1800 On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration, Adams died at age 90, reportedly saying, “Jefferson still survives.” Unbeknownst to him, Jefferson had died hours earlier that same day. An unlikely pair whose tumultuous friendship lasted half a century, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826, 50 years after signing the Declaration of Independence.
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