by Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson—no two people are more responsible for the Declaration of Independence than that “power couple” of the American Revolution. Adams nominated Jefferson to draft the document. Jefferson drafted it. Adams and Ben Franklin edited it. Then John Adams advocated for independence on the floor of the Continental Congress. “He was our Colossus on the floor,” Jefferson said.

As Adams argued for independence, and then argued for passage of the Declaration, he spoke “with a power of thought and expression, that moved us from our seats,” Jefferson marveled.

Adams and Jefferson have long been entwined as the yin and yang of the Revolution: Adams the voice, Jefferson the pen. Their partnership led to passage of the Declaration. After the war, they worked in Europe together as America’s first ministers to Great Britain and France, respectively. There, they became close friends. Back in America, they found themselves on opposite sides of the political divide and became political rivals in the deeply partisan late 1790s. They went for years without speaking, but late in life, they reconciled through one of the most remarkable strings of correspondence in American history. Their letters to each other are a delight to read.

Their mutual friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush, considered them “as the North and South poles of the American Revolution.” Adams and Jefferson had competing ideas of what the Revolution meant—a debate that has continued for 250 years. Individual rights vs. the common good. State vs. Federal power. Big government vs. small government. The needs of the many vs. the needs of the few. The distribution of power. Checks and balances. Faith or distrust in “the People.” These are all ideas the Founders themselves debated and disagreed on, and Adams and Jefferson serve as the poster children for that discussion. One of the truly ingenious aspects of our system of government is that it has institutionalized that debate so that it plays out through legislation and the courts rather than through violence.