Benjamin Rush
The first five presidents of the United States worked closely with one another to ensure a more perfect union. As everyone knows, Thomas Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. What you might not know is that John Adams was the primary voice for the signing of the Declaration in June and July of 1776. In the ensuing years, Jefferson and Adams worked closely with one another in various positions.
Before the Constitution was passed, both men found themselves in France, seeking to persuade the French to loan money to the new country. They spent a lot of work time and touring time together, as David McCullough writes in his biography John Adams. Later, when Washington was elected the unanimous first president of the United States, John Adams was the runner-up and, therefore, the Vice President. Jefferson served as Secretary of State.
But all was not well between the two. Jefferson once wrote privately of Adams: “His vanity is a lineament in his character which had entirely escaped me. His want of taste I had observed. …His dislike of all parties, and all men, by balancing his prejudices, may give the same fair play to his reason as would a general benevolence of temper. At any rate honesty may be expected even from poisonous weeds.”
A very public rift occurred between the two friends when Adams was elected (with 71 votes) to succeed Washington and Jefferson ended up his vice president (with 68 votes). France was embroiled in her bloody revolution and Jefferson supported France over Britain. Adams leaned towards supporting Britain but wanted to remain neutral. In fact, France engaged in acts of war with the U. S. in the Atlantic and Adams did his best (successfully) to keep the two out of an official war.
The relationship between Great Britain and France played an important role in the division between the two friends. The Federalist Party sided with Great Britain and counted Adams among their number. The Republicans sided with France and Jefferson was decisively on their side. As I’ve mentioned, Adams actually tried to be neutral but that was not enough for the Republicans.
On the other hand, stronger and flaccid erections can be experienced by males and females. cheap viagra from uk You need to massage the male organ using Mast Mood oil daily two times to cure weakness due to over masturbation. generic viagra tab Most men assume that as 100mg viagra effects http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-animals/video-kitten-riding-a-turtle/ long as they are not abused. Sildenafil is the generic levitra cheap active ingredient that is Sildenafil citrate. As it was, Jefferson defeated Adams’ effort to have a second term and the two went many years without corresponding – almost twelve years. Enter Benjamin Rush. Rush was a medical doctor and signer of the Declaration of Independence and a friend of the two. Through the ensuing decades, Rush had corresponded with both men and knew, in their hearts, they wanted a reconciliation.
Rush first approached Adams, recalling a dream he had. In the dream, he was reading a history of America, written sometime in the future, in which it was announced that 1809 saw one of the “most extraordinary events” – the renewal of John Adams’ and Thomas Jefferson’s friendship. In Rush’s dream, it was Adams who made the first peace overture.
Adams did not do anything at first. But, a few years later, just prior to Christmas, 1811, Adams commented to some neighbors of Jefferson, “I always loved Jefferson and I still love him.” Jefferson heard of it and wrote to Rush, “I only needed this knowledge to revive towards him all the affections of the most cordial moments of our lives” (McCullough, 602-3).
On January 1, 1812, Adams sat down and wrote Jefferson a letter, which began many years of renewed love and correspondence between the two friends and revolutionaries. As you might already know, both men died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the country for which they dedicated their lives’ devotion. They died as friends.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9). To be reconciled, it takes humility. It takes one or both swallowing their pride. It takes asking forgiveness. It takes allowing the past to remain in the past. But to be a peacemaker is to be blessed.
–Paul Holland
