Can bitter political enemies become close friends, sharing mutual respect and admiration? Is it possible to separate political views, and gigantic differences thereon, from personal regard for individuals? In today’s political climate you might laugh at those notions. But, consider for a moment the reconciliation of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, brokered by Benjamin Rush.

Adams and Jefferson had served closely during the Revolution and played significant cooperative parts in the drafting and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Both were members of the Committee of Five charged by the Continental Congress to write the Declaration for presentation to the Congress. And, it was Adams, along with Franklin, that Jefferson had entrusted with his first draft of the important document for comment and editing.

But, during President Washington’s administration Adams, Vice President, and Jefferson, Secretary of State (1790-93), had begun to feud over various foreign and domestic issues. The feud continued until the two men became bitter enemies. And, after Jefferson’s retirement from public office in 1793, the rift only deepened, and was not helped when Adams (Federalist Party) and Jefferson (Democratic-Republican Party – yes they were one and the same at one time), ran for President against each other in 1796. To make matters worse between the two, in those days the runner-up in the Presidential race became Vice President, making Jefferson a most resentful and reluctant Vice President to Adams.

The feud between Adams and Jefferson didn’t dissipate but instead grew greater as Jefferson broke protocol and ran against his President in 1800, barely defeating Adams by 73 to 65 electoral votes. Then, in the days prior to his leaving office, Adams appointed a series of judges, called the “Midnight Judges”, in an effort to lengthen Federalist influence and control over the Nation, which was diminishing in the wake of Washington’s death in 1799. Most of these “Midnight Judges” were unseated by Jefferson, but one significant judge remained, John Marshall. As Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Marshall became a major burr-under-the-saddle to Jefferson during his Presidency (1801-1809) as Marshall refashioned the Constitution into a nationalizing force and established the Judicial Branch as the equal of the Executive and Legislative branches.

The feud deeply troubled Benjamin Rush, who was still a close friend of both Adams and Jefferson. In his concern over the relationship between these two, one night several months after Jefferson’s retirement from the Presidency in 1809, Rush had a dream about the two. On October 17, 1809, Rush wrote down an account of that dream and sent it to Adams:

“What book is that in your hands?” said I to my son Richard a few nights ago in a dream. ‘It is the history of the United States,’ said he. ‘Shall I read a page of it to you?’ ‘No, no,’ said I. ‘I believe in the truth of no history but in that which is contained in the Old and New Testaments.’ ‘But, sir,’ said my son, ‘this page relates to your friend Mr. Adams.’ ‘Let me see it then,’ said I. I read it with great pleasure and herewith send you a copy of it.

1809. Among the most extraordinary events of this year was the renewal of the friendship and intercourse between Mr. John Adams and Mr. Jefferson, the two ex-Presidents of the United States. They met for the first time in the Congress of 1775. Their principles of liberty, their ardent attachment to their country. . . being exactly the same, they were strongly attracted to each other and became personal as well as political friends. . . . A difference of opinion upon the objects and issue of the French Revolution separated them during the years in which that great event interested and divided the American people. The predominance of the party which favored the French cause threw Mr. Adams out of the Chair of the United States in the year 1800 and placed Mr. Jefferson there in his stead. The former retired with resignation and dignity to his seat at Quincy, where he spent the evening of his life in literary and philosophical pursuits, surrounded by an amiable family and a few old and affectionate friends. The latter resigned the Chair of the United States in the year 1808, sick of the cares and disgusted with the intrigues of public life, and retired to his seat at Monticello, in Virginia, where he spent the remainder of his days in the cultivation of a large farm agreeably to the new system of husbandry. In the month of November 1809, Mr. Adams addressed a short letter to his friend Mr. Jefferson in which he congratulated him upon his escape to the shades of retirement and domestic happiness, and concluded it with assurances of his regard and good wishes for his welfare. This letter did great honor to Mr. Adams. It discovered a magnanimity known only to great minds. Mr. Jefferson replied to this letter and reciprocated expressions of regard and esteem. These letters were followed by a correspondence of several years in which they mutually reviewed the scenes of business in which they had been engaged, and candidly acknowledged to each other all the errors of opinion and conduct into which they had fallen during the time they filled the same station in the service of their country. Many precious aphorisms, the result of observation, experience, and profound reflection, it is said, are contained in these letters. It is to be hoped the world will be favored with a sight of them. . . . These gentlemen sunk into the grave nearly at the same time, full of years and rich in the gratitude and praises of their country.’”

At the time that Rush wrote his letter, Jefferson and Adams were still bitter opponents. None of what was described in Rush’s letter had come to pass, nor did it seem very likely that it ever would. Nevertheless, Adams received “the dream” from his dear friend Rush with an open mind and heart and responded:

“My friend, there is something very serious in this business. . . . Your prophecy, my dear friend, has not become history as yet. I have no resentment of animosity against the gentleman and abhor the idea of blackening his character or transmitting him in odious colors to posterity. But I write with difficulty and am afraid of diffusing myself in too many correspondences. If I should receive a letter from him, however, I should not fail to acknowledge and answer it.”

Shortly after this exchange, Rush, who was also a dear friend of Jefferson, initiated a correspondence with Jefferson on the same topic. Jefferson, too, listened to Rush with an open heart, and tentatively reached out to Adams with a gracious letter. Adams, as he had promised, did “not fail to acknowledge and answer the letter,” and thus began a cordial renewing of a warm and sincere friendship between the two.

The accuracy of several parts of Rush’s dream is remarkable. Adams and Jefferson did again become close friends, and there did indeed follow the “correspondence of several years.”And, the “world was favored with a sight of the letters” as entire volumes were eventually published which contained the letters written between those two in their latter years.

Adams and Jefferson died within three hours of each other on the same day: July 4th, 1826 – the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Adams’ last words have been reported as "Thomas Jefferson survives". Adams was unaware that Jefferson, his fellow patriot in the quest for independence, then his great political enemy, then later his dear friend and correspondent, had died a few hours earlier.