The untold story of three US Presidents who died

Adams and Jefferson died on the same day, in the same year July 4, 1826, which also happened to mark the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Five years later, on July 4, 1831, James Monroe too passed away. All three men were not just former presidents, they were Founding Fathers, architects of the very freedom the US was celebrating.

The seeds of American independence were sown in the discontent of the 1760s and 70s. From the Stamp Act of 1765 to the infamous Boston Tea Party in 1773, the 13 colonies were in revolt over what they saw as “taxation without representation”.

The war officially began in 1775, but it was on July 4, 1776 that delegates of the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Drafted mainly by Thomas Jefferson, the document severed ties with Britain and gave birth to the United States.
Jefferson, along with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston, comprised the Committee of Five that drafted the document.
It was a bold declaration of ideals: that all men are created equal and that they have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

July 4, 1826: The day two Founding Fathers died

Fifty years later, the very day that marked a half-century of American freedom, both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died within hours of each other.

Thomas Jefferson

The principal author of the Declaration, Jefferson was the third US President (1801-1809) and a lifelong advocate of liberty and education. He died on 4 July 1826, aged 83, at his Monticello estate in Virginia. Jefferson’s final days were marked by exhaustion and illness. He died in the morning, on the anniversary of the nation’s founding.

John Adams

A fierce debater and the second President (1797-1801), Adams had once been Jefferson’s political rival, but they reconciled later in life. On the same day as Jefferson, Adams died at 90, in Quincy, Massachusetts. His last reported words were: “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Unbeknownst to him, Jefferson had died just hours earlier.

James Monroe

James Monroe, the fifth President (1817-1825), who delivered what became known as the Monroe Doctrine - a key statement of American foreign policy - died on July 4, 1831, aged 73.
Monroe had been ill for some time and passed away in New York City, at his daughter’s residence. The press quickly took note of the “presidential coincidence”. The Frederick Town Herald reportedly called it “a tissue of coincidences that have marked the history of nations”.

Was it just a historical fluke?

Historians have long debated whether these deaths were symbolic, divine, or simply random. These weren’t just former presidents. They were nation-makers. Adams was the intellectual who pushed for independence, led the diplomatic charge in Europe, and later became Washington’s successor. Jefferson was the idealist who drafted the Declaration, expanded US territory through the Louisiana Purchase, and promoted a more agrarian republic. Monroe symbolised the “Era of Good Feelings”, and his doctrine shaped US foreign policy for over a century.