Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Both Died on July 4, 1826 — the 50th Anniversary of Independence

History rarely produces coincidences this remarkable. On July 4, 1826 — the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — both John Adams (the 2nd President) and Thomas Jefferson (the 3rd President, and the Declaration's primary author) died within hours of each other. Adams died at 5:30 PM; Jefferson had died hours earlier that same afternoon.

Adams' reported last words were 'Thomas Jefferson survives' — not knowing that Jefferson had already passed. Both men were 90 years old when they died. The statistical improbability of two Founding Fathers dying on this particular anniversary struck contemporaries as almost miraculous. James Monroe, the 5th president, died on July 4, 1831 — making three presidents to die on Independence Day.