John Adams And Thomas Jefferson Died On The Same Day – July 4th, 1826
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died within hours of each other on 4th July, 1826. Both men were of great age, particularly for the time, so their deaths could not have been unexpected. Yet, for the second and third presidents of the USA to both pass away on 4th, 1826, as their fellow Americans celebrated fifty years of independence is undeniably weird.
Jefferson and Adams, once friends and patriots, then rivals for the presidency became amicable and frequent correspondents in their later years.
Tradition has it that Adams, unaware that Jefferson had already passed away, said: “Thomas Jefferson still survives,” moments before his own death.
At the time of their deaths, Jefferson was eighty-three and Adams was ninety.
On receiving news of Jefferson’s death, John Tyler recounted that Jefferson had often expressed a desire to die on the 4th of July.
Five years later, James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States and next to die, passed away on the 4th of July completing a spooky hat trick of sorts.
