Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on this date in 1826. In a twist only a hackneyed novelist would attempt, they passed away exactly 50 years to the day after the document they produced in Philadelphia (with considerable assistance) inflamed the colonies -- and the world -- with the spirit of Independence.
In a further dramatic flair, Adams was said by a relative to have proclaimed on his deathbed in Quincy, Massachusetts, "Jefferson survives!"
This great exit line, which sounds like a Hallmark movie ending, may or may not have been uttered. If Adams really said it, he was mistaken by a few hours: Jefferson actually died first. That isn't the point of the story, of course. The point is that these two extraordinary men -- friends, Founders, presidents, enemies, and finally, friends again -- were joined in death and in life, just as Virginia and Massachusetts were joined. And as the North and South were joined, although it took Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War to solidify this Union.
Does Jefferson survive today? Will his reputation withstand the latest periodic reevaluation of America's values and national identity? There are no guarantees. For reasons that are not entirely unjust, the Sage of Monticello has been a touchstone in the culture wars even in Charlottesville.
But I submit this morning to a candid world that if 90-year-old John Adams' dying words were "Jefferson survives!" he wasn't merely talking about the mortal body of his 83-year-old co-conspirator. Adams would have been talking about the lasting impact of the ideas that they and their band of worthies unleashed in Philadelphia on this date in 1776.
In one of his last letters to Adams, Jefferson used the word "Argonauts" to describe the Founders. They were certainly sailing into unknown waters in using the power of Jefferson's pen and George Washington's generalship to challenge the British empire. But that's what they did, and 247 years later Americans are still trying to make the most of it. Make the most of our independence, that is.
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon
