On July 4, 1826, America's second president John Adams died at the age of 90. According to history.com, Adams remarked on his deathbed that he had been outlasted by his fellow founding father and later political rival, Thomas Jefferson. Little did Adams know Jefferson had died around five hours earlier at his Monticello estate in Virginia at the age of 83.  Adams has been described as one of the key proponents of American Independence. According to documents compiled by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Jefferson himself referred to Adams as "our collosus on the floor," and said, "He was not graceful or elegant, nor remarkably fluent, but he came out occasionally with a power of thought and expression, that moved us from our seats."  America's fifth president James Monroe also died on July 4th, 1831, five years after Adams & Jefferson passed.  "Three of the four presidents who have left the scene of their usefulness and glory expired on the anniversary of the national birthday," said the New York Evening Post.