The rivalry between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams is the stuff of American legend. They worked together to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776, but political ideologies later tore them apart. Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans and Adams's Federalists fought viciously, transforming former close friends into bitter enemies during the turn of the century.
However, in their twilight years, the two statesmen reconciled through a famous, decade-long series of warm, reflective letters. By 1826, both men were frail, yet determined to survive until the Jubilee—the 50th anniversary of the United States. On the morning of July 4, 1826, 83-year-old Thomas Jefferson passed away at his Monticello estate in Virginia.
Hundreds of miles away in Quincy, Massachusetts, 90-year-old John Adams lay on his deathbed later that same afternoon. Unaware that his friend and rival had passed five hours earlier, Adams’s famous final words were reportedly, 'Thomas Jefferson survives.' The mathematical odds of two principal authors of American independence dying on the exact 50th anniversary of their greatest achievement are astronomically low, leading many Americans at the time to view the event as a sign of divine favor on the nation.
To add to the weirdness, James Monroe, the fifth US president, also died on July 4 five years later in 1831.