Philosopher Kings

 "You and I ought not to die before We have explained ourselves to each other."

This quote is from an early letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, breaking the ice on a long  silence between the two men. 

On Jan. 1, 1812 Adams reached out to his friend and adversary Thomas Jefferson and began a correspondence that lasted until their respective deaths within hours of each other on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The story of their friendship is told in the book Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. 

Adams had been the second President of the United States and Jefferson the third. Despite their brilliant partnership in the founding of the US government, partisan disagreements had kept them from communicating for 8 years. Adams was for a strong executive branch, and Jefferson was for a limited federal government with greater rights for states. Both were firmly ensconced in their own view and aware of the fragility of the new Republic. Through the intercession of Benjamin Rush, the long estrangement ceased and produced this amazing epistolary exchange.

There is no exact birth time for Jefferson or Adams.  The charts set out below have been rectified, with Adams chart having  Rodden rating of C and Jefferson an X, so the angles cannot be fully trusted. 

Jefferson had Sun at 22 Aries, and Adams had his Moon at 20 Aries. This is a very strong affinity. Both men had fiery moons. Jefferson had Moon in Sagittarius trine Mars and Adams had Moon in Aries oppose Mars and Pluto. 

Adams had Mercury at 27 Scorpio, and he was argumentative in his writings, with Sun in Scorpio, Moon in Aries, both ruled by Mars. Jefferson had Mercury at 26 Pisces, trine to Adam's Mercury. When Mercury is in compatible signs between two charts, communications flows easily. Here both Mercurys are in water signs and they are in a trine by aspect. Jefferson had Mercury sextile Uranus and Adams had Moon trine Uranus. Fitting for revolutionaries. 

On their respective writing styles, Ellis stated, in an apt description of Pisces and Scorpio: 

Jefferson's style was "fluid, lyrical, cadenced and melodious" and Adam's was "excited, jumpy, exclamatory, naughty." 

All in all they exchanged over 300 letters covering topics such as the power of the people versus the aristocracy, education, philosophy, religion and human nature.

If you wish to read the letters they can be found here or in your local library.  History owes a thank you to Benjamin Rush.