For many of us, the Fourth of July is a favorite holiday as families gather around barbecues and picnic blankets to this quintessential American experience. Yet, in the midst of the food, fireworks and friends, it is also a holiday to reflect, if only briefly, on what brings us to this moment each year in celebration of the Declaration of Independence. This year, the holiday seems even more important.
In his 1826 eulogy for both men, Daniel Webster could not escape the weighty significance of the date of their mutual passing or accept that it was mere coincidence. For Webster, it was 'Providence' that 'the heavens should open to receive them both at once.' As explored in my book, Adams and Jefferson are complex figures who displayed some of the same doubts about core rights that many today harbor.
Jefferson would ultimately pardon those convicted under Adams. Yet, he would also yield to that 'monster' in using the criminal system to target his own critics, though to a lesser extent as his predecessor. The story of Adams and Jefferson should seem all too familiar to many today in this presidential election. Jefferson ran against Adams in 1800 on his crackdown of free speech and his use of the criminal justice system against his opponents.
It was a shared moment for Adams and Jefferson that would rekindle as friendship. At the very end of their lives, they remembered who they were and what they meant to each other. It is a moment still shared by all Americans. It reminds us that what we have in common as a free people is far greater than what divides us. So Happy Fourth of July to us all. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JONATHAN TURLEY