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In late June, 1776, Ben Franklin, Tom Jefferson and John Adams got together in Philadelphia ...
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They wrote something for their friends in 13 states here in the new world.
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It was officially announced on July 4 and was intended to persuade like minded lovers of freedom in England.
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It said that King George and Parliament were not being fair to the people in the 13 colonies.
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They wanted to become 'free and independent states'.
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Franklin died a few years later in Philadelphia...his funeral parade drew the largest crowd of people ever to assemble up to that time in the new country...
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Adams and then Jefferson became the second and third presidents of the new country.
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They grew to be bitter enemies as leaders of competing political parties.
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They said and wrote vicious things about each other.
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After retirement they renewed their friendship and wrote letters that are considered jewels of American history.
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Mostly, they wrote about their invention: the United States of America.
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In 1826 they both neared the end. Reportedly, on July 3, gravely ill in bed, Jefferson awoke and called out "Is it the 4th?".
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Those may have been his last words. A friend replied "It will be in a few hours".
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Adams, who had vowed to live until the 50th anniversary of the signing, spoke on Independence Day from his deathbed: "Thomas Jefferson still survives." were his last words.
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But Jefferson had passed earlier that day. Messengers were dispatched. One from Massachusetts rode south to tell the country that John Adams had died. His final destination was to be Jefferson's home in Monticello, Va.
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A similar messenger was dispatched from Virginia with news that the lead author of the declaration had died on its 50th anniversary.
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The riders never reached their final destinations. They each stopped in Philadelphia, site of the convention where America was founded.
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They met up ...near Independence Hall.....and exchanged the news of the two men passing on the same day.
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More than one citizen of this nation believes that Divine Providence played a hand in these events.
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On July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the declaration they wrote together, they passed away... hours apart.
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May God Bless America.... and all of you!
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