John Adams, ensconced at Quinsy and retired from public life, fretted that a publicized statement of his made years earlier and sharply critical of his old friend Thomas Jefferson might rupture their recently restored friendship after years of estrangement. A nervous Adams wrote a hurried letter to the Sage of Monticello, seeking reassurances of his affection, despite the dredged up slight from years past. Jefferson wrote back with a touching reply:
"Be assured, my dear Sir, that I am incapable of receiving the slightest impression from the effort now made to plant thorns on the pillow of age, worth, and wisdom, and to sow tares between friends who have been such for nearly half a century. Beseeching you then not to suffer your mind to be disquieted by this wicked attempt to poison the peace, and praying you to throw it by."
With a pen like his, it's no wonder Jefferson was selected to draft the Declaration of Independence. Of course, Adams was deeply relieved. The letters would continue for years, becoming what Joseph Ellis has called the "intellectual capstone to the achievements of the entire revolutionary generation and the most impressive correspondence between prominent statesmen in all of American history."
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