As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, recall the 50th Jubilee of July 4, 1826—when Americans gathered in Washington to mark the Founders’ “Great American Experiment” as a proven success. That same day, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died within hours of each other, their passing on the Declaration’s golden anniversary seen by many as a providential bookend to the Revolutionary era.

In this year of the 250th anniversary of the United States it is good to remember the jubilee anniversary celebrated two-hundred years ago in 1826. A committee, headed by the mayor of what was at the time called Washington City, R. C. Weightman, was appointed to plan a celebration in the national capital and the schedule for it is provided in this post as transcribed from the Washington newspaper, The National Daily Intelligencer, Monday, July 3, 1826. The announcement was also published in local newspapers around the nation. Some cities and groups planned celebrations of their own. It was an important commemoration because what the Founding Fathers had described as “The Great American Experiment” had proven itself and the nation had a promising future.

Notice that the opening paragraph of the announcement is a quote attributed to “Holy Writ” with all the text coming from Leviticus 25, however the text in the paragraph is incomplete and omissions were not noted with elision marks. The quote within its proper context is provided as follows with insertions in brackets and missing text in italics. Verse references are added in parentheses.

“Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land (25:9). And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim LIBERTY [liberty] throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family (25:10). [insert verses 11-16 here which further define the jubilee, its grace, God’s mercy shown in it, and its holiness] Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God; for I am the Lord your God (25:17)—and the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety (25:19).”

The jubilee in Leviticus occurred in the fiftieth year after seven Sabbath years, seven times seven yielding forty-nine years. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest under the Old Covenant entered the Holy of Holies and made sacrifice, a sacrifice that was merely a shadow of the true atonement that was to come. It was the highest of holy days as it looked forward to the seed of the woman, Christ, who would crush the head of Satan and atone for the sins of his people. Liberty from cancelled debts, freedom from bondage, and restored land had temporal benefits under the Old Covenant, but these physical blessings anticipated the spiritual liberty achieved by Christ that frees individuals from sin and death. Moses was making a theological statement for the Covenant people in Leviticus.

The great semi-centennial celebration was accomplished but due to another event its importance was overshadowed. One of the most remarkable events in American history occurred July 4, 1826 when both John Adams, the Federalist, and Thomas Jefferson, the Republican, died. Adams’s vision for strong centralized government and Jefferson’s promotion of localized government by the states to limit centralized power caused them to clash. The two had been vocal opponents promoting their visions for what the United States should become, but in later years they were reconciled and enjoyed friendly correspondence thanks to mediation by fellow Founding Father, Benjamin Rush. The deaths of Jefferson and Adams symbolically marked the end of the era of the Founding Fathers.

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