Adams and Jefferson
 "You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other."

Adams's Friend (and Rival)

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson did patch things up, despite the fact that Adams did not even attend Jefferson's inauguration. Adams was disappointed in losing to Jefferson, but was also grieving the loss of his son Charles when Jefferson was sworn in. There also had been an incident during the campaign that underscores the differences between the two men. Jefferson, when presented with an Adams-related scandal he knew to be false, chose to use this during the campaign to further his own fortunes. Adams, who held Jefferson-related scandalous information he knew to be true, refused to stoop to that level of behavior. His integriy intact, he nevertheless lost the election. Though Abigail Adams understandably never forgave Jefferson his behavior, Adams and Jefferson eventually set aside their bad blood. The letters between them in their waning years remain some of the best depictions of that time in history that survive.

What initially united them reunited them at death. Both died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826, the Declaration's 50th anniversary. Adams was 92 and Jefferson was 83. It was said that Adams's last words were, "Thomas Jefferson survives." A less certain account details that Jefferson's last words, upon dying several hours earlier, were "At least John Adams lives on."

Actual photo of the obituary of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

* You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.
o Letter to Thomas Jefferson, his political rival for much of his career. (July 13, 1813)

* As long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Property and Influence will accumulate in Families.
o Letter to Thomas Jefferson (July 16, 1814)

* The fundamental article of my political creed is that depotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratical council, an ogliarchical junto, and a single emperor.
o Letter to Thomas Jefferson (November 13, 1815)

* We have now, it Seems a National Bible Society, to propagate King James's Bible, through all Nations. Would it not be better to apply these pious SubScriptions, to purify Christendom from the Corruptions of Christianity; than to propagate those Corruptions in Europe Asia, Africa and America!
o Letter to Thomas Jefferson {November 4, 1816} *

* Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!" But in this exclamation I would have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean Hell.
o Letter to Thomas Jefferson (April 19, 1817) (The italicized section within this statement has often been quoted out of context.) Original manuscript at The Library of Congress

* Thomas Jefferson... still surv—
o Alleged last words (July 4, 1826) as indicated by some; often rendered as a full statement, "Thomas Jefferson still survives." by others. Thomas Jefferson died a few hours earlier on the same day, the 50th anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence.