US Independence Day: The untold story of three US Presidents who died on July 4

Yearly on July 4, People have a good time their independence with fireworks, flags and fierce patriotism. However past the celebration and parades lies a little-known historic thriller. Three of the primary 5 Presidents of the US John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe all died on Independence Day.

Adams and Jefferson died on the identical day, in the identical yr July 4, 1826, which additionally occurred to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 5 years later, on July 4, 1831, James Monroe too handed away. All three males weren’t simply former presidents, they had been Founding Fathers, architects of the very freedom the US was celebrating.

The declaration that modified the world

The seeds of American independence had been sown within the discontent of the 1760s and 70s. From the Stamp Act of 1765 to the notorious Boston Tea Social gathering in 1773, the 13 colonies had been in revolt over what they noticed as “taxation with out illustration”.

The warfare formally started in 1775, nevertheless it was on July 4, 1776 that delegates of the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the doc severed ties with Britain and gave beginning to the US.

Jefferson, together with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston, comprised the Committee of 5 that drafted the doc.

It was a daring declaration of beliefs: that each one males are created equal and that they’ve the appropriate to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

July 4, 1826: The day two Founding Fathers died

Fifty years later, the very day that marked a half-century of American freedom, each Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died inside hours of one another.

Thomas Jefferson

The principal writer of the Declaration, Jefferson was the third US President (1801-1809) and a lifelong advocate of liberty and training. He died on 4 July 1826, aged 83, at his Monticello property in Virginia. Jefferson’s last days had been marked by exhaustion and sickness. He died within the morning, on the anniversary of the nation’s founding.

John Adams

A fierce debater and the second President (1797-1801), Adams had as soon as been Jefferson’s political rival, however they reconciled later in life. On the identical day as Jefferson, Adams died at 90, in Quincy, Massachusetts. His final reported phrases had been: “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Unbeknownst to him, Jefferson had died simply hours earlier.

James Monroe

James Monroe, the fifth President (1817-1825), who delivered what grew to become generally known as the Monroe Doctrine – a key assertion of American overseas coverage – died on July 4, 1831, aged 73.

Monroe had been unwell for a while and handed away in New York Metropolis, at his daughter’s residence. The press shortly took observe of the “presidential coincidence”. The Frederick City Herald reportedly referred to as it “a tissue of coincidences which have marked the historical past of countries”.

Was it only a historic fluke?

Historians have lengthy debated whether or not these deaths had been symbolic, divine, or just random. These weren’t simply former presidents. They had been nation-makers. Adams was the mental who pushed for independence, led the diplomatic cost in Europe, and later grew to become Washington’s successor. Jefferson was the idealist who drafted the Declaration, expanded US territory via the Louisiana Buy, and promoted a extra agrarian republic. Monroe symbolised the “Period of Good Emotions”, and his doctrine formed US overseas coverage for over a century.

Additionally learn: July 4, 1776: The day the American dream of independence was born and the way it modified historical past