Fact Over Fiction, Every Time

I have to start out by apologizing for the long drought in blogging. I could blog about Christmas (if I had the pictures on the computer) or New Year's but I don't have the time or "brain energy" tonight. Instead I want to insert a mostly forgotten, but absolutely true, moment from American History, taken from the book "John Adams" by David McCullough.

In July of 1826, the two great patriots, former Presidents of the United States, and friends John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both lay seriously ill at their homes in Quincy, Massachusetts and Monticello, Virginia.

"Early on the morning of Tuesday, July 4, as the first cannon of the day commenced firing in the distance, the Reverend George Whitney arrived at the house to find 'the old gentleman was drawing to his end. Dr. Holbrook was there and declared to us that he could not live more than through the day.' Adams lay in bed with his eyes closed, breathing with great difficulty. Thomas sent off an urgent letter to John Quincy to say their father was 'sinking rapidly.'

As efforts were made to give Adams more comfort, by changing his position, he awakened. Told that it was the Fourth, he answered clearly, 'It is a great day. It is a good day.'

At Monticello, Thomas Jefferson had been unconscious since the night of July 2, his daughter Martha, his physician Robley Dunglison, and others keeping watch. At about seven o'clock the evening of July 3, Jefferson awakened and uttered a declaration, 'This is the Fourth,' or 'This is the Fourth of July.' Told that it would be soon, he slept again. Two hours later, at about nine, he was roused to be given a dose of laudanum, which he refused, saying, 'No, doctor, nothing more.'

Sometime near four in the morning Jefferson spoke his last words, calling in the servants 'with a strong clear voice,' according to the account of his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, but which servants he called or what he said to them are unknown.

Jefferson died approximately one o'clock in the afternoon on July 4, as bells in Charlottesville could be faintly heard ringing in celebration in the valley below.

At Quincy the roar of cannon grew louder as the hours passed, and in midafternoon a thunderstorm struck - 'The artillery of Heaven,' as would be said - to be followed by a gentle rain.

Adams lay peacefully, his mind clear, by all signs. Then late in the afternoon, according to several who were present in the room, he stirred and whispered clearly enough to be understood, ' Thomas Jefferson survives.'

Somewhat later, struggling for breath, he whispered to his granddaughter Susanna, 'Help me, child! Help me!' then lapsed into a final silence.

At about six-twenty his heart stopped. John Adams was dead.

...That John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had died on the same day, and that it was, of all days, the Fourth of July (50 years past 4 July 1776), could not be seen as a mere coincidence: it was a 'visible and palpable' manifestation of 'Divine favor,' wrote John Quincy in his diary that night, expressing what was felt and would be said again and again everywhere the news spread."

I've studied John Adams in some detail and believe he represents the best in American statesmanship. If I were participating in the "Hawkeye Cauci," I would be looking for a candidate with his qualities.