July 4 is celebrated in the United States as Independence Day, the day when the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. During the early days of the country, this was a time of great celebration. On July 4, 1826, however, two former presidents and Founding Fathers, died: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
John Adams:
John Adams, the second President of the United States, had served two terms as Vice President under George Washington, and then one term as President. After leaving the presidency, Adams spent twenty-five years living in relative seclusion.
While Adams is generally described as a short, plump man, he was also one of the healthiest presidents. When he died at the age of 90, he had lived long enough so that his overall wealth had dwindled significantly.
Adams’ death was not unanticipated: he was 90 years old, his eyesight was poor, his joints ached with rheumatism, and worsening arteriosclerosis left him winded and bedridden. On the morning of July 4, he asked to get up and be dressed. He was propped up at his bedroom window. He soon lapsed into a coma and died late that afternoon. His last words:
“Thomas Jefferson still survives.”
Adams and Jefferson had been opponents and Adams was unaware that Jefferson had died at 9:50 AM.
Thomas Jefferson:
Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States. Following his second term as President, he retired to private life and excessive debt.
Jefferson spent the last year of his life plagued by the threat of bankruptcy. Physically, the 83-year-old Jefferson suffered from recurrent bouts of amoebic dysentery and rheumatism. As his health declined, he refused to allow the doctors to bleed him and he refused their purgatives. Dehydrated from the dysentery, he drifted into a stupor on July 2.
On July 3, Jefferson briefly awoke. He asked:
“Is it yet the Fourth?”
Seemingly driven by a massive will to live until the Fourth of July, he died after sunrise on Independence Day.
Jefferson died broke. He left a friend his walking staff and he left his silver watch to his grandson. He composed his own epitaph for his tombstone:
“Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”