Happy 250th Birthday, America!

Editor’s Note: Few rivalries in American history have been as consequential — or as personal — as the one between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The two men could hardly have been more different.

Adams, the stocky and combative Massachusetts lawyer, was blunt to a fault and quick to suspicion. Jefferson, the tall, elegant Virginia planter, was reserved and idealistic.

The two held diverging political philosophies as well. Adams preferred a strong, central government while Jefferson favored states’ rights and limited government.

This rift eventually led to an epic falling out, culminating in the presidential election of 1800, as Jefferson The post Happy 250th Birthday, America! appeared first on War on the Rocks.