What follows is one of the great “Did You Knows” of history.
Two of America’s Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both died on July 4, 1826 — 50 years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. At the time, America was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding with great exuberance and hoopla. The coincidental timing of the deaths of these ideological titans took the date’s significance to a new level.
Adams’ last words reportedly were “Jefferson still lives.” Unbeknownst to him, however, many hundreds of miles away, Jefferson had died a few hours earlier.
When Americans learned of this amazing occurrence, they saw it as a providential blessing over their young country. It served as a major catalyst to what became a national mythology, or “civic religion,” lifting up the Founding Fathers as a pantheon of leaders to be forever revered by the new republic.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Webster’s highly regarded eulogy, delivered at Faneuil Hall in Boston on Aug. 2, 1826, also elevated the role that Jefferson and Adams played in fathering the cause of liberty in America.
To add to the date’s providential mystique even more, the last president of the revolutionary generation, James Monroe, died on July 4, 1831.
Bringing this closer to home, Sen. Jesse Helms, North Carolina’s conservative warrior in President Ronald Reagan’s “Reagan Revolution” in the 1980s, died on July 4, 2008.
Is it all providential? That’s for each patriotic American to decide.
What we can all agree on is that although we should enjoy the fireworks, parades, and picnics on the 4th of July, the occasion should be honored for much more.
It marks the day we declared our independence and became a beacon of freedom to so many who fled oppression in other countries. It celebrates the “pursuit of happiness” and opportunities people have yearned for that they were not permitted to have in other countries.
For 250 years, July 4 has stood for more than just a date on the calendar. Let’s celebrate and embrace it.
