"The Friendship"

Earlier, I mentioned in passing that today is the anniversary of John Adams' birth. 

Apparently a scrappy little fellow.

By chance, I picked up one of my newer crappy old books and read a bit about the friendship between Adams and Jefferson. What a great story! Sure, everyone knows the story of  Jefferson's feelings of betrayal over Adams' appointment of John Marshall as chief Justice, made literally hours before Adams left office. And everyone knows that after a crucial time, Adams came to hate Jefferson (but, I'll add, not as much as he hated Hamilton). And everyone knows that after a time, they began to correspond again and continued to do so for 14 years. And everyone knows that they died within hours of one another on July 4, 1826-- the 50th 'anniversary' of the signing Declaration of Independence.

That's the skinny story-- the one I knew-- and it's a good one. But the real story is much more interesting. Abigale's involved. (What a fire-cracker!) And also a guy named Benjamin Rush-- whoever he was. 

I haven't finished the chapter yet. I'll let you know how it turns out. I mean, besides the dying part, which we all know.

Joseph J. Ellis. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 2001.