Called before the Judge of all

[Shizamus]

Once political enemies they became close friends, and died July 4th in the year 1826. An awe swept America as these two men, at distance of 700 hundred miles from each other, died on the same day exactly 50 years since they both signed the Declaration of Independence. Their names: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. President John Quincy Adams, in an Executive Order, stated:
"A coincidence...so wonderful gives confidence...that the patriotic efforts of these...men were Heaven directed, and furnishes a new...hope that the prosperity of these States is under the special protection of a kind Providence."
In his Second Annual Message to Congress, 1826, President John Quincy Adams stated: "Since your last meeting at this place, the fiftieth anniversary of the day when our independence was declared...two of the principal actors in that solemn scene - the hand that penned the ever-memorable Declaration and the voice that sustained it in debate - were by one summons, at the distance of 700 miles from each other, called before the Judge of All to account for their deeds done upon earth."