Louisa Adams’s Poem About the Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson on America’s Semicentennial

Two hundred years ago, on America’s fiftieth birthday on the Fourth of July in 1826, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died. These political rivals were the country’s second and third presidents—and first two vice presidents. Louisa Adams, the former’s daughter-in-law, was the First Lady at the time; her husband, John Quincy Adams, was the president. Louisa composed a poem in memory of the two former presidents:

The rival chiefs—who all their life 
Were striving to be even 
In death renew their mutual strife 
By struggling to reach Heaven— 
Two Presidents in one short day 
Behold this people—weep 
Their fun’rals—none object to pay 
The last expence—comes cheap— 

Louisa held John Adams in high regard. He was among her favorite correspondents. Louisa thought that he was the most welcoming member of the Adams family.

Louisa was the most prolific poet among First Ladies. For her father-in-law, she also penned “Ode to Mr Adams.” Louisa also wrote poems addressing three other presidents: her husband, James Madison, and Andrew Jackson. While she praised the other subjects, her treatment of Jackson was harshly critical. To read all of these poems, check out my new book, Poems by First Ladies: The First-Ever Anthology!