TOM HARTON Commentary: Patriotism that douses the fireworks
Friends, then foes, then friends once again as their lives drew to a close, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day: July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That these two Founding Fathers died on Independence Day and on the golden anniversary of such an important day in the country’s history was widely accepted at the time as proof of the “Divine favor” shown the young United States of America. One-hundred seventy-nine years…