(because I'm tired of answering these questions over and over again via email through my website)
1) Yes -- Adams and Jefferson actually died on the same day. Yes, the VERY same day -- the 4th of July, 1826 (the 50th anniversary of Independence) -- within hours of each other. No, there was no epidemic. No, they didn't die in an accident together -- they each died in their own homes for totally unrelated reasons. According to John's youngest son Thomas, his father's last words were "Thomas Jefferson sur--". He imagined the last word was "survives" but it may well have been anything. When it was suggested to John Quincy Adams that this last pronouncement sounded suspiciously dramatic for a deathbed utterance, JQA pointed out that his father would often say "Thomas Jefferson" to differentiate his friend from his son Thomas Adams.
2) Yes, they actually had busts of each other in their homes. No, it was not a dramatic device. Here
is a picture of the Adams bust at Jefferson's home Monticello. I have personally seen the Jefferson bust and portrait at Peacefield.
3) Yes, Jefferson and Abigail were good friends. Abigail actually helped nurse Thomas back to health when he arrived in France. Apparently John wasn't all THAT jealous.
4) No, Abigail never spoke to Jefferson again after the election of 1800 (and really, who can blame her?)
5) John and Thomas reconciled their friendship in January of 1812 (although they were in infrequent contact in the years between, just not as regularly or amiably). The full rapprochement occurred following John's daughter Nabby's horrific surgery for breast cancer. Concerned for John's well-being, Dr. Benjamin Rush urged John to write Jefferson and mend fences. Along with a New Years greeting note, John sent Thomas a copy of John Quincy's book as a gift to which Thomas responded with his thanks and the rest is history. Rush credited John's continued survival to his correspondence with Jefferson which saw him through his daughter's subsequent death and the eventual loss of Abigail. The miniseries changed the series of events for dramatic purposes. A photo of the book John sent and the accompanying correspondence is below.
Adams inscribed the title page “John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 1. 1812."
The letter reads in part: “I take the Liberty of sending you by the Post a Packett containing two Pieces of Homespun lately produced in this quarter by one who was honoured in his youth with some of your Attention and much of your kindness.”
Brief excerpts from the continuing Adams and Jefferson letters.
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