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Between the John Adams miniseries on HBO and the musical 1776, everyone knows that John Adams was one of the leading voices for independence in the Continental Congress. And along with negotiating the treaty of Paris and keeping the US out of the Quasi War, Adams always considered the Declaration one of his chief accomplishments. 50 years after Congress adopted it, John Adams remembered it on the morning of July 4, 1826, remarking “it is a great day. It is a good day.” That evening, he died, with many sources reporting that his last words were “Jefferson still lives.” He was wrong, though. Earlier that day, Jefferson had woken briefly, asked “is it the fourth” and then declined further medical treatment before slipping into a coma and himself dying. For someone who was so closely associated with America’s founding document, why did John Adams believe we should celebrate it on July 2nd? And how did his closest and most trusted advisor, his wife Abigail, urge him on toward independence in a letter that history remembers for other reasons? Let’s find out!

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• March 31, 1776: Abigail’s “Remember the Ladies” letter
• April 14, 1776: John responds, “you are so saucy)
• April 27, 1776: Abigail to Mercy Otis Warren, “I have helped the sex abundently”
• May 7, 1776: Abigail, “I cannot say that I think you very generous to the Ladies”
• May 26, 1776: John to James Sullivan, “Whence arises the Right of the Men to govern Women, without their Consent?”
• July 3, 1776: John, “I am surprized at the Suddenness, as well as Greatness of this Revolution.”
• July 3, 1776: John, “The Second Day of July 1776… will be celebrated by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.”
• July 21, 1776: Abigail, “I went with the Multitude into Kings Street to hear the proclamation for independence read and proclaimed.”