Last words?

Among famous last words the presidents, there are three words said to have been uttered by a Founding Father that rise above the rest. The legend born of these three words has grown into mythic proportions that has remained unchecked in popular non-fiction history for decades. The words and the man who uttered them?-“Thomas Jefferson survives,” by John Adams. Why tackle this mythic subject? Why shatter the legend that has been built around the alleged poetic last words said by John Adams moments after his close friend, Thomas Jefferson, passed away hundreds of miles to the south at his home, Monticello? The legend has been boosted in large part by the unreal, statistically low fact Adams and Jefferson, Founding Fathers and signers of the Dec. of Ind., passed away on the same day and year, fifty years to the day the country celebrated its independence from Great Britain. Aiding the legend is the friendship between the two men that spanned several decades, beginning in the 1770s; their participation in writing the Dec. of Ind. (Jefferson is the primary author of the document); their extensive and long-term writing and exchange of letters; their contentious 1800 presidential campaign; their estrangement; and resuming their friendship in their twilight years. It was a long, rich friendship that has been the focus of many historians and continues to produce in the present. When all this is taken into consideration the picture becomes clear as to why the legend was born out of Adams last words. As for the last words, “Thomas Jefferson survives,” this is where the facts must be brought into the discussion. On July 4, 1826, Jefferson and Adams were in poor physical condition. Jefferson, hundreds of miles to the south, was laid up in bed, gripped in a stupor, and for all intent and purpose unaware of his surroundings. Adams was coherent, aware of his surroundings, and fully aware he was alive on the 4th of July. As the day drifted past noon, Adams, lying in his bed, whispered to his granddaughter, Susanna, “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Sadly, though, by this time Jefferson had passed away. Adams lingered on for another five hours and around 6:30PM, moments before he passed away, he whispered his final words to Susanna, “help me child…help me.” So, why build a legend around alleged words that were not last words? Well, it’s a fitting end for one of our great American patriots and Founding Fathers, a man who risked his life and honor to form a new republic and win freedom from the tyrannical British crown. By alleging Adams said, “Thomas Jefferson survives,” it’s as if to say Adams was connected spiritually with Jefferson to the very end. It invokes the divine, that God almighty played a direct role in summonsing these men on the 4th of July, our 50th anniversary of independence. Most likely, though, the story was crafted to avoid having to print “help me child…help me” as Adams last words, a once mighty Founding Father and tidal wave of independence.