Tomorrow marks the 250th anniversary of our nation’s birth, but it also marks the 200th anniversary of the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Yes, the two arch-rivals died just hours apart, on July 4, 1826. I chronicled their lifelong feud and eventual reconciliation in my book Authentic Faith. Back then, you could get away with writing very long chapters; today, I’m sure an editor would ask for the chapter to be cut in half. But I’m offering it here unabridged, hoping that perhaps some of you will have some extra time over the holiday weekend.
Forgiveness goes so against my grain, but it is essential for every true believer in Christ. Re-reading this chapter, I was struck by how forgiveness doesn’t just serve individuals; it also points the way to political healing and restoration, something desperately needed today. We hear the words “retaliation” and “reparations” one hundred times for every instance someone might dare suggest “forgiveness.” I’m not a political writer–no one follows me for my political views. But what if a few political leaders tried to follow the suggested path of Jesus? Might that not get us a little further than the morass we’re in right now? Let me know what you think.
“If forgiveness is a whitewashing of wrong, then it is itself wrong.Nothing that whitewashes evil can be good.It can be good only if it is a redemption from the effects of evil, not a make believing that the evil never happened.”
Dr. Lewis Smedes
“If religion forbids all instances of revenge without any exception, ‘tis because all revenge is of the nature of poison”
William Law
July 4th, 1826. John Adams, our nation’s second president, was close to death in his Massachusetts home. He had lived a full life—an original signer of the Declaration of Independence, our nation’s first vice president and second president, father of our nation’s sixth president—and he had enjoyed a rich, deep marriage. His final thoughts, however, were particularly intriguing. Some of his last words concerned his longtime political rival and one-time archenemy Thomas Jefferson. As Adams’ lay dying, several people nearby heard him whisper, “Thomas Jefferson still survives.”
In fact, unknown to Adams, Jefferson had died hours earlier in his home in Monticello, Virginia.
By all accounts, both Adams and Jefferson lived complete lives. Not only were both men presidents, but they also worked together on the Declaration of Independence. Historian David McCullough calls Jefferson the “pen” of the Declaration of Independence and Adams its “voice.”[1] The two men literally shaped a burgeoning republic with their own opinions and beliefs and presidential administrations.
If we think today’s partisan politics are unprecedented, we haven’t read much history, for the dispute between Adams and Jefferson was unusually intense—ultimately leading to a duel in which Aaron Burr fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton in 1804.
Jefferson’s victory in the 1800 election kept Adams from serving a second term; as the second president, Adams had no precedent for a defeated office holder to follow. Adams had served his country long and well and sacrificially; the electoral defeat hurt and made him angry as well as bitter. The pain of his loss was intensified by the fact that the man who was replacing him was his opposite in just about every way.
McCullough points out, “The differences in physique, background, manner, and temperament could hardly have been more contrasting. Where Adams was stout, Jefferson was lean and long-limbed, almost bony. Where Adams was nearly bald, Jefferson had a full head of thick, coppery hair. …
“Jefferson was devoted to the ideal of improving mankind but had comparatively little interest in people in particular. Adams was not inclined to believe mankind improvable, but was certain it was important that human nature be understood…
“It was Jefferson’s graciousness that was so appealing. He was never blunt or assertive as Adams could be, but subtle, serene by all appearances, always polite, soft-spoken, and diplomatic, if somewhat remote. With Adams there was seldom a doubt about what he meant by what he said. With Jefferson there was nearly always a slight air of ambiguity.”[2]
Jefferson, of course, had his own issues with Adams. After he took office, Jefferson accused Adams of furiously appointing many “midnight judges” on his last day in office, with the intent to hamstring the enactment of Jefferson’s policies (though most appointments had taken place before that, and it was to be expected that Adams would appoint people in his own party). Jefferson later wrote in a letter to Abigail Adams (John’s wife) that he considered these appointments “personally unkind.”[3]
There was certainly no amicable transfer of power—Adams didn’t even bother to show up for Jefferson’s inauguration! The second president chose to leave town in the early hours rather than personally witness his enemy receiving the honor of his own former office. This disappointed Adams’ supporters as much as it did Jefferson’s followers.
Following two short letters about some unfinished business, over eleven years would pass before the two men would write to or speak to each other again. Though, interestingly, there was a somewhat heated correspondence between Abigail and Jefferson, in which Jefferson made mention of “Mr. Adams’ personal wrath.”[4]
Then, through the reconciling work of a mutual friend, Benjamin Rush, Adams was urged to write to Jefferson. Rush called Adams and Jefferson the “North and South Poles of the American Revolution” and argued that two men who both played such pivotal roles in the founding of a nation should not die in acrimony.
An astonishing correspondence followed.[5] Fifty letters went back and forth over the next twenty-four months. Though Adams wrote far more frequently than did Jefferson, there was clearly some degree of respect if not admiration for the work each had done. Even so, their disagreements continued. In one letter, Adams wrote, “Whether you or I were right posterity must judge. I never have approved and never can approve the repeal of taxes, the repeal of the judiciary system or the neglect of the navy.” In another, Adams chided, “Checks and balances, Jefferson, however you and your party may have ridiculed them, are our only security.”
True to his irascible nature, Adams seemed to want to continue the now good-natured quarrel. “My friend! You and I have passed our lives in serious times,” he wrote to Jefferson. “You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.”
Jefferson refused to be drawn in, not wanting to rehash old arguments. “To me then it appears that there have been differences of opinion, and party differences, from the establishment of governments to the present day…nothing new can be added by you or me or to what has been said by others, and will be said in every age.”
But to characterize the letters as only a renewal of old debates would not do them justice. The men discussed their daily habits, what they were reading, and often sent their best wishes. In one letter, Jefferson spoke of how in spite of their disagreements they had still been working toward the same general end: “Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us and yet passing harmless under our bark, we knew not how we rode through the storm with heart and hand, and made a happy port.”[6]
One of Adams’ friends was astonished to hear of Jefferson’s and Adam’s reconciliation. He asked Adams how he could possibly be on such good terms with his old rival, “after all the abuse he had suffered from him.” Adams replied: “I do not believe that Mr. Jefferson ever hated me…but he detested my whole administration. Then he wished to be President of the United States and I stood in his way. So he did everything that he could to pull me down. But if I should quarrel with him for that, I might quarrel with every man I have had anything to do with in life. This is human nature. … I forgive all my enemies and hope they may find mercy in Heaven. Mr. Jefferson and I have grown old and retired from public life. So we are upon our ancient terms of good will.”[7]
Adams may never have known that the last letter Jefferson wrote to him was written beneath a plaster bust of John Adams that Jefferson kept on a shelf in his office. And Jefferson surely never knew that his one-time rival died with Jefferson’s name on his lips.
Whereas these men could have died bitter deaths, they were enriched in their final hours not just by their family, but by thoughts of another man who had once been a sworn enemy. Their character was seen not just in their political accomplishments, but in their willingness to forgive and move on.
God wants to save us from ourselves. The message of the Gospel is that, from a human perspective, the first person served by forgiveness is the one who does the forgiving. From a broader perspective, God’s glory is served. In both cases, the discipline of forgiveness marks a truly authentic faith.
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