Posted on 07/01/2013 7:38:02 PM PDT by EveningStar
You may have received an email that details the tragic fates of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. I myself have received that email many times over the years. It's been in circulation since at least 1999.
For reference, a copy of but one version of that email is shown at the end of this message.
The question: is it fact or fiction?
The answer: it's a bit of both, but it's mostly fiction.
Here are some sites debunking that email:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/p/patriots.htm#.UdIYbG3Bi8A
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/pricepaid.asp
http://hnn.us/articles/860.html
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-law&month=0007&week=c&msg=rtHq7uwHGsimCiOOhtqH/g&user=&pw
The Price They Paid
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons 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 British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British 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 Ellery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his 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. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. 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 dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Morris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
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. We didn't just fight the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Perhaps you can now see why our founding fathers had a hatred for standing armies, and allowed through the second amendment for everyone to be armed.
Frankly, I can't read this without crying. Some of us take these liberties so much for granted. We shouldn't.
Fact: All of them, were racist white slave owning capitalists teabaggers.
Fact: Most were likely gay.
/Merica Public School
Compare these people with politicians in D.C. today.
The betrayers in D.C. will not even take responsibility for spying on it’s own law abiding citizens.
What is your point?
These men did not lose anything, it was all a joke?
Men died, men sacrificed, men lost family, men lost fortunes, men were tortured.........that IS fact.
[snicker] One from each state in the union [snicker]
To warn conservatives about circulating items that are not properly vetted.
oh please. This has been making the rounds for many years.
LOL
I’ve seen stuff like this before.
Forget leftist snopes.
Read the account written by Rush Limbaugh’s father.
I think the left plants stories with errors and lies. When a conservative groups picks them up and repeats them they are pointed out as being wrong. They will take a true story and add so much juicy gossip lies that truth is thrown out with the lies when they are pointed out. The start with phrase like “This will finally prove” or “The last nail in the coffin”. I many ‘conservative blogs are really run by liberals.
Notice that I included other links besides Snopes.
I said that in my initial post.
You have no idea how many times I’ve received that email. And it was debunked in 2000!
Didn’t Rush Limbaugh’s grandfather write the original essay on the fates of the signers of the Declaration of Independence?
How about light instead of heat?
Here’s the actual stories of the signers:
http://www.dsdi1776.com/learn-about-the-signers/
Thanks. When I was writing the initial post, I found several such links.
I can just see some kid trying to use this at school and being shown wrong on many points. It lessens the impact of the true points.
I figure if it ran for 100+ years, it's probably very well vetted.
My father, Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr., delivered this oft-requested address locally a number of times, but it had never before appeared in print until it appeared in The Limbaugh Letter. My dad was renowned for his oratory skills and for his original mind; this speech is, I think, a superb demonstration of both. I will always be grateful to him for instilling in me a passion for the ideas and lives of America's Founders, as well as a deep appreciation for the inspirational power of words which you will see evidenced here: |
"Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor" |
It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded young Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home. Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was 72.5 degrees and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The chairs were comfortable. Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces, but they would not be used today. The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked, the room became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that loud quarreling voices could not be heard by passersby. Small openings atop the windows allowed a slight stir of air, and also a large number of horseflies. Jefferson records that "the horseflies were dexterous in finding necks, and the silk of stockings was nothing to them." All discussing was punctuated by the slap of hands on necks. On the wall at the back, facing the president's desk, was a panoply -- consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from Fort Ticonderoga the previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured the place, shouting that they were taking it "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" Now Congress got to work, promptly taking up an emergency measure about which there was discussion but no dissension. "Resolved: That an application be made to the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania for a supply of flints for the troops at New York." Then Congress transformed itself into a committee of the whole. The Declaration of Independence was read aloud once more, and debate resumed. Though Jefferson was the best writer of all of them, he had been somewhat verbose. Congress hacked the excess away. They did a good job, as a side-by-side comparison of the rough draft and the final text shows. They cut the phrase "by a self-assumed power." "Climb" was replaced by "must read," then "must" was eliminated, then the whole sentence, and soon the whole paragraph was cut. Jefferson groaned as they continued what he later called "their depredations." "Inherent and inalienable rights" came out "certain unalienable rights," and to this day no one knows who suggested the elegant change. A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling, the document was put to a vote. Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: "I am no longer a Virginian, sir, but an American." But today the loud, sometimes bitter argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken from north to south by colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted. There were no trumpets blown. No one stood on his chair and cheered. The afternoon was waning and Congress had no thought of delaying the full calendar of routine business on its hands. For several hours they worked on many other problems before adjourning for the day. |
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SOURCE: http://archive.rushlimbaugh.com/home/folder/american_who_risked_everything_1.member.html |
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