The Fourth of July 1826
“Is it the Fourth?” “No, not yet,” they answered, “but ’t will soon be early morn.
We will wake you, if you slumber, when the day begins to dawn.”
Then the statesman left the present, lived again amid the past,
Saw, perhaps, the peopled Future, lived again amid the Past,
Till the flashes of the morning lit the far horizon low,
And the sun’s rays, o’er the forest in the East, began to glow.
..........
Evening, in majestic shadows, fell upon the fortress’ walls;
Sweetly were the last bells ringing on the James and on the Charles.
’Mid the choruses of Freedom, two departed victors lay,
One beside the blue Rivanna, one by Massachusetts Bay.
Hezekiah Butterworth (Condensed)
Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia, April 13, 1743
Framed the Declaration of Independence, 1776
Was elected Governor of Virginia, 1779
Appointed Secretary of State in Washington’s Cabinet, 1789
Elected third President of the United States, 1800
He died on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Fourth of July, 1826
He was called the Sage of Monticello. Monticello was the name of his fine country estate.