On this day, July 4, three of the first five presidents died. Jefferson and Adams in 1826, and

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Monroe in 1831.

[Harker]

1. Are you trying to get my hopes up? n/t

[secondwind]

2. Interesting tidbit... never heard of this.

[quaint]

3. Monroe was plagued by financial difficulties, and died on July 4, 1831 in New York City.

Watching my karma

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. Screw karma. I hope trump has a massive stroke and dies choking on his own spittle!

Happy 4th!

[quaint]

14. I don't share my fantasies.

[DFW]

7. Jefferson, too

He had to sell his library to the government to help him stay financially afloat. It became the core collection of what was to become the Library of Congress.

Thom Hartmann could fill in a lot more detail. He is a real Jefferson scholar.

[quaint]

15. Yes, Thom Hartmann is a real Jefferson scholar.

Some authors even rely on and credit his research.

[DFW]

16. I know. I am one of them

Hartmann even mentioned my book on his show, and my citing one of his books in the credits.

(Thom, if you're reading this, I haven't forgotten!)

[quaint]

17. I know, I'm a smart aleck.

[DFW]

18. No fair

I haven‘t adjusted to the time change yet

[niyad]

5. For those not sufficiently caffeinated, please note that Adams and Jefferson died on the

50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Adam's was 90, a remarkable age at the time.

[DFW]

9. Jefferson was 83, which was also considered well on up there at the time.

Ironically, on the day they died, Adams is quoted as saying "at least Jefferson still survives."

[rurallib]

6. And Cal Coolidge (yuck) was born July 4th, 1872. About Adams and Jefferson dying

on July 4, 1826 - I believe Adams son John Quincy was president at that time.

[Boomerproud]

8. There's the famous story of John Adams' last words.

"Is it the 4th? Thomas Jefferson lives.' Of course he had no way of knowing that Jefferson had died 5 hours beforehand.

[DFW]

10. There a few variations on the quote, I've read

But they all basically convey the same irony

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. They supposedly didn't talk for 12 years...

... after Jefferson won the 1800 Presidency, and they never fully regained their earlier friendship.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/04/us/john-adams-thomas-jefferson-frenemies-trnd/index.html

The South had an unfair electoral college advantage because of their many slaves who counted as 3/5ths of a person for calculating the representatives of each state.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1800_United_States_presidential_election

That advantage trickled down in several other ways too, such as a later majority of Southerners in the Supreme Court during their Dred Scott decision.

Reminds me of Republican advantages today, in terms of rural voters being more represented.

[Boomerproud]

12. Also Abigail Adams was a strong abolitionist and obviously

didn't care for Jefferson being a slaveowner.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

13. Yep.

The Northerners should've never agreed to a compromise with South Carolina's Pinckney when the Constitution was written in 1787. The 3/5th clause probably helped prolong later problems.

[DFW]

19. Their relationship was famously rocky

But when they resumed contact, their epistolary correspondence is legendary