On July 4, 1826, a half-century to the day after the approval of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams sat down in his study to read. Soon after, his family found him unresponsive and carried him to bed.

He stirred after a while and commented that Thomas Jefferson still survived. Then John Adams, our nation’s second president, passed away — but his dying words were wrong.

Some 500 miles south at his estate in Virginia, Jefferson had been bedridden for a while. That same morning, he opened his eyes and asked, “Is it the Fourth?” Soon after, Jefferson died, mere hours before his old friend, rival, and fellow revolutionary, John Adams.

Jefferson and Adams were brought together by revolution, torn apart by party politics, and reconciled by the depth of their bond. Together they were called the North and South Poles of the American Revolution, and they both died on the same day, exactly 50 years after the independence for which they strived together was finally declared to the world.