“This is the Fourth?” considered to be the last words spoken by Thomas Jefferson (left) before he died around 12pm on July 4, 1826. “Thomas Jefferson still survives” considered to be the last words of John Adams (right) before he died around 5pm on July 4, 1826. Adams wasn’t aware of Jefferson’s passing a few hours earlier. July 4, 1826 was America’s Quinquagenary (50th Anniversary). Both former U.S. Presidents, who died only hours apart, signed the Declaration of Independence fifty years earlier. Images via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Adding to this eerie, miraculous cosmic alignment, James Monroe—the 50th anniversary’s sitting President’s immediate predecessor and the third Founding Father President—also died on exactly the Fourth of July just five years later in 1831.
