History of Sorts

For Americans, the 4th of July is a great day of celebration; it is Independence Day. However, for three Presidents, it was not such a great day; it was the day they died.

Two American Presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both died on July 4, 1826. This date was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a significant and symbolic moment in American history.

1. Thomas Jefferson: He was the third President of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809. Jefferson was also the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
2. John Adams: He was the second President of the United States, serving from 1797 to 1801. Adams was a leading advocate for independence and a key figure in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

Interestingly, Jefferson and Adams were close collaborators during the early years of the United States but later became political rivals. They eventually reconciled and maintained a correspondence until their deaths. Their passing on the same day, particularly on the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, is often noted as a remarkable historical coincidence.

James Monroe

James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, also died on July 4. He passed away on July 4, 1831, making him the third president to die on Independence Day. Monroe served as president from 1817 to 1825 and is best known for the Monroe Doctrine, a key foreign policy statement that warned European nations against further colonization in the Americas.

Monroe’s tenure as president is remembered for its contributions to U.S. foreign policy and national expansion, as well as for the relative political harmony of the time.

During the American Revolutionary War, he served in the Continental Army. Monroe studied law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783 and subsequently served as a delegate to the Continental Congress as well as a delegate to the Virginia Ratifying Convention. He opposed the ratification of the United States Constitution. In 1790, Monroe won the Senate election, where he became the leader of the Democratic-Republican Party. He left the Senate in 1794 to serve as President George Washington’s ambassador to France but was recalled by Washington in 1796. Monroe won the election as Governor of Virginia in 1799 and strongly supported Jefferson’s candidacy in the 1800 presidential election.

A few months before his death, Monroe was dealt a severe blow when his son-in-law and close advisor George Hay died on September 21, 1830, and his wife Elizabeth died just two days later. Upon Elizabeth’s death in 1830, Monroe moved to 63 Prince Street at Lafayette Place[155] in New York City to live with his daughter Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur, who had married Samuel L. Gouverneur. On July 4, 1831, Monroe died at age 73 from heart failure and tuberculosis.

Sources

https://www.history.com/news/july-4-two-presidents-died-same-day-coincidence

“Mr Monroe’s dying request”

https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/three-presidents-die-on-july-4th-just-a-coincidence

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/james-monroe/