| Show On uly 4 i t 1 1 reSt dents 1 r I i k vly f f t cW f vt ff s l dal r. r r r t rJ I F J I. I t s M Mn n Lf r I THOMAS JEFFERSON JOHN ADAMS Died July v 4 1826 Died July L tI I i i f ux fn R r I i ry w 1 JAMES MONROE JAMES A. A GARFIELD Died July Y 1831 La Stricken bij by an assassin Jul Julij I By ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS 1 AS the Fourth of Jul July 1826 In QuIncy Mass ass ancestral ancestral an an- home of the Adams 1 1 family John Adams second J President of ot the United States lay dying From Washington D D. C. C John QuIncy Adams sixth President of the United States was hurrying hurrying Jf If that word ord can be applied to the laborious progress of ot a stage coach over o the inadequate Inadequate In in- inadequate adequate highways s 's of that day day to to his fathers father's bedside About noon the dying man opened his eyes eves at the sound round of ot ringing bells and booming cannon which drifted Into the open window Mrs Clark his daughter in law Jaw bent over o him and In answer to the unspoken inquiry In his eyes reminded reminded remInded re re- minded him that it was the Fourth of ot July the fiftieth anniversary of ot American Amer Amer- ican lenn independence It Is a great day he said It Jt is a good day About one o'clock In the afternoon he be spoke again Thomas Jefferson survives he said but the last word was Indistinctly and imperfectly ut ut- After that he spoke no no more Ho Ha could not know that at the very moment when he was saying Thomas Jefferson Jellerson survives the sage of Monticello Monticello Monti- Monti cello was breathing his last in far of off Virginia The death of ot these two men on the day which they helped make famous also ended a most unusual friendship and J a famous correspondence This menOS lp ana and tots mis correspondence is also one of t the unique and most human human hu liu- man bits of American history In those stirring days of 1776 they as members of ot the Continental Congress were associated closely In one of or the greatest adventures of ot history that hIstory that of producing a document which would either result In the establishment of a new nation or In case military force Sailed foiled to make good that document In their becoming unsuccessful rebels and perhaps ending their careers on the gallows The choice of drafting that document lay between them and Adams In his autobiography gives the following reasons why J Jefferson was chosen for that work Mr Jefferson had been now about a year a member of congress but had attended his bis duty In the house a very verl small email part of ot the time It will naturally be Inquired how It happened that he was appointed on ona a committee of such Importance There were more reasons than one Mr Jefferson had the Ule reputation of a masterly pen he had been chosen a delegate in Virginia In consequence of a very handsome public paper which be he had written for the House of Burgesses Burgesses Burgesses Bur Bur- gesses which had given him the character character char char- acter atter of ot a very fine writer Another reason was that Mr Richard Henry Lee Le was not beloved by the most of his bIa colleagues from Virginia and Mr Jefferson was sent up to rival and supplant him This could be done only by the pen for tor Mr Jefferson could I DO no competition with him or I If f z r r rK K i iT T HYDE CALVIN COOLIDGE Born July 4 1872 anyone else in elocution and public debate The committee had several se meetings meetings meetings meet meet- ings In which were proposed the articles articles articles ar ar- of which the Declaration was to consist and minutes made of them The committee then appointed Mr Jefferson Jefferson Jefferson Jef Jef- ferson and me to draw them up Inform Inform In form and clothe them in proper dress The subcommittee met and consid- consid nl T t 1 hN u. u NY U lU l on them as then occurred when Mr Ir Jefferson desired me to take them to m my lodgings and make the draft This I declined and gave ve several several sev soy eral oral reasons for doing so 1 That he was a Virginian and andI I a 2 That he was a southern man and I a northern one 3 That I had been so obnoxious for my early and constant zeal In promoting promoting promoting pro pro- the measure that every draft of ot mine would undergo a more severe scrutiny and criticism In congress than one of ot his composition 4 And lastly lastly last last- ly and that would be reason enough if there were no other I had bad a great opinion of ot the Ule elegance of his pen and none at all of ot my own I therefore therefore therefore there there- fore insisted that no hesitation should be made on his part He accordingly took the minutes and in a day or two produced to me his draft When the Revolution ended successfully successfully success success- fully and the Republic was established they became political enemies Adams the Federalist and Jefferson the Republican In the Presidential campaign to select a successor to Washington Adams came out victorious vIctorious victo vIcto- rious only to be swept aside by the people in favor of ot Jefferson four tour years ears later In 1812 through the entreaty of ot their mutual friend Benjamin Rush of ot Philadelphia a correspondence began began began be be- gan between them in which their warm mutual esteem was evident In this correspondence they unburdened unburdened unburdened their hearts and minds to each other And Dd what an amazing correspond correspond- ence It was Some of ot Adams' Adams letters to Jefferson run to and even words and to these Jefferson responded responded responded re re- in kind One of the most touching of them all Is Jeffersons Jefferson's last letter to his colleague DeplorIng Deploring Deploring ing the Interruption but asking permission permission permission per per- mission for tor his his his' grandson Thomas Randolph to pay his respect to Adams on a visit to Boston he Like other young people he wishes to be able in the winter nights of ot old age to recount to those around him what he has heard and learnt of the heroic age preceding his birth aUf ami which of the Argonauts IndI Individually he lIe was in time to have seen 1 It was the lot of our early years ears to witness wit ness nothing but the dull monotony of a colonial subservience and of our riper years to breast the perils and andI I labors of working out of It Theirs are arc the halcyon on calms succeeding the storm which our Argosy had so stoutly weathered Gratify his ambition then by receiving ing his best bow Five years ears later It was the Fourth of July 1831 Again the bells were pealing and the cannon booming But Butin ButIn Butin in New York city they were suddenly stilled for James Monroe fifth President President President dent of the United States lay dead In his home on Prince street far from the scenes of his youth in the hills of old Virginia and far from his beloved beloved be be- loved lo home Ash Lawn near Char- Char It was from the University University University sity of Virginia there that he had mn ou no n ne n l noun of w to win the approval al of his fellow VIrginian Virginian Virginian Vir VIr- ginian George Washington on revolutionary revolutionary revo revo- battle fields And when at I last he had retired from a long and distinguished public career as an ambassador ambassador ambassador am am- to foreign lands as a mem mom member member ber her of ot two Presidents President's cabinets and finally as President himself he had come back to Ash Lawn to spend his declining years only to be forced by debt to sell it and make his home at last In New York city I Fifty years later It was the Fourth of July 1881 In a darkened room inthe inthe in inthe the White House James A. A Garfield President of ot the United States lay stricken by the bullet of an assassin Two Tuo days previously on July 2 while he was standing in the Baltimore and Potomac railroad station Charles J. J Guiteau a disappointed office seeker whose diseased brain was responsible for his terrible act had shot down the President For several weeks Garfield Garfield Gar- Gar Garfield field lingered between life Ilfe and death until it was thought best to move him to Elberon Long Branch N N. J. J where It was felt that he might regain strength more rapidly At first the change seemed to benefit the PresIdent President dent but his strength had been so sapped by the prolonged Illness that the end came at last on September 19 1881 But July 4 has not always been a aday aday aday day of ot deaths for tor Presidents On July 4 1872 there was born In a farmhouse farm farm- house near Dear Plymouth Vermont a boy destined for tor occupancy of ot the Whit Whitt Calvin was his na naw IS 1 |
