The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.
John Adams, Letter to Mrs. Adams, July 3, 1776.
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Well, he got lots of other things right!
In 1826. Jefferson a few hours earlier, in Virginia. According to the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, in his two-hour eulogy at Fanueil Hall, Daniel Webster cited this coincidence as proof of how much God cared for the country. Queue stirring music.
are one of those completely magical moments in American history. If I hadn’t read it in a history book, I’d almost think it was made up.
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I mean, really. Consider it: Long time political foes–even calling accusing one another’s organizations of treason–eventually are able to start a friendship through correspondence. They discuss every issue imaginable of the day, and rekindle their friendship. Jefferson, who wrote the bulk of the Declaration of Independence and Adams, who helped push it through the Continental Congress both die on the 4th of July, exactly 50 years after it’s finally signed. Jefferson dies first, but Adams doesn’t know this and as he lays dying Adams declares, “Jefferson lives!”
in a lay-led Unitarian Universalist church service last Sunday (the 2nd). We had a bunch of readings on what it meant to be an American, and I read an excerpt from a sermon my sister (the Rev. Jennie Barrington of Winchendon MA) wrote last March. It’s a letter to John and Abigail, appealing to their wisdom and succor in these dark times.