5. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
Of the collection of notables collectively linked as The Founders, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams are the two most identified as the driving force behind the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Adams was one of the earliest and most vocal supporters of permanent separation from Great Britain; Jefferson’s pen was what explained the action to posterity. Once close allies, they toured sites in Great Britain (and later New England) together, visiting among other things the home of William Shakespeare, of whose works both were enamored (Jefferson chipped one of the Bard’s chairs for a souvenir to take home).
Adams was a man of simple tastes; Jefferson enjoyed French cuisine, Italian wine, and the theater. Adams was a devout reader of the Bible, Jefferson eventually created his own revision of the New Testament. Eventually, they fell out, though years later they reconciled their personal and political differences through a correspondence which remains one of the most informative of American history. Nonetheless, Jefferson once wrote of Adams’ “…want of taste” while Adams complained of Jefferson’s use of the Declaration of Independence to further his (Jefferson’s) reputation, writing to Benjamin Rush, “Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that; i.e. all the Glory of it”.
