On this day in 1777 Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to John Adams for the first time. Decades would then pass before these two began what would become one of the greatest correspondence between two brilliant minds the world has ever seen, before or since.
Between their first letter and the last ones in 1826 these two experienced quiet a lot. Too much to list, but among all the world changing events they saw they became political enemies and then estranged. The revival of their friendship and correspondence that flowed from is a great story of redemption and illustrates the wisdom of forgiveness.
In the first letter from Jefferson, he writes, “The speedy and frequent communication of intelligence is really of great consequence. So many falsehoods have been propagated that nothing new is believed unless coming from Congress or camp.” He was specifically referring to updates on the Revolutionary War, but imagine being in a situation where Congress is considered the most reliable of sources.
We don’t write letters anymore. We glance at emails, send one sentence text messages, and fire off tweet after tweet, but we don’t really write anymore. Letter writing was an art and historic letters serve us today as wonderful primary sources.
