It
begins with the words "When in the course of human
events ..." and was signed by 56 men. Some famous names
from our history are repesented in the signatures on the
Declaration of Independence, the name most associated
with the Declaration being John Hancock, the first
person to sign the document. The other signers were:
GEORGIA:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton.
NORTH-CAROLINA: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John
Penn.
SOUTH-CAROLINA: Edward Rutledge, Thomas
Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr., Arthur Middleton.
MARYLAND: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone,
Charles Carroll.
VIRGINIA: George Wythe, Richard
Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas
Nelson Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.
PENNSYLVANIA: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin
Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith,
George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross.
DELAWARE:
Caesar Rodney, George Read.
NEW-YORK: William Floyd,
Philip Livingston, Frank Lewis, Lewis Morris.
NEW-JERSEY: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon,
Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark.
NEW-HAMPSHIRE: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple,
Matthew Thornton.
MASSACHUSETTS-BAY: Samuel Adams,
John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry.
RHODE-ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE: C. Stephan Hopkins,
William Ellery.
CONNECTICUT: Roger Sherman, Samuel
Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott.
Have
you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed
the Declaration of Independence?
Five
signers were captured as traitors, and tortured before
they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army,
another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and
died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their
fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were
they?
Twenty-four
were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine
were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means,
well educated. But they signed the Declaration of
Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be
death if they were captured.
Carter
Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw
his ships swept from the seas by the opposing Navy. He
sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died
in rags.
Thomas
McKeam was so hounded by search parties that he was
forced to move his family almost constantly. He served
in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in
hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty
was his reward.
Vandals
or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall,
Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and
Middleton.
At
the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that
the opposing forces had taken over the Nelson home for
their headquarters. He quietly urged General George
Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and
Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis
Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. His wife
was jailed and died within a few months.
John
Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was
dying. Their 13 children fled. His fields and his
gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he
lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his
wife and children vanished. A few weeks later he died
from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and
Livingston suffered similar fates.
John
Hancock lost his home and possessions when Boston
burned.
Such
were the stories and sacrifices of the American
Revolution. These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing
ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and
education. They had security, but they valued liberty
more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they
pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm
reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we
mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes,
and our sacred honor."
They
gave you and me a free and independent America. The
history books never told you a lot of what happened in
the Revolutionary War. Some of us take these liberties
too much for granted ... We shouldn't.
So,
take a couple of minutes while enjoying your 4th of July
holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much
to ask for the price they paid.
