Posted on 10/01/2004 11:27:00 AM PDT by Getsmart64
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 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 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 Dillery, 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. Norris 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 about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fougnt our own government!
Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.
Remember: Freedom is never free!!
It's a good post. But after over 5 years of Internet circulation, you're the only one who hasn't seen this before.
Entertaining as this is, it's not true; you might check this topic out at "Snopes.com" for the truth.
urban legend. phony as a democrat.
*cough* *gag* *GLURGE*
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/declare.htm
okokokok....just something I ran across sheesh...I'll check out the snopes deal tho...
Thanks for the reminder. :)
And we have FR threads about how afraid people are of having their car scratched for having the "wrong" bumper sticker.
Never hurts to remind us that "some gave all" in the defense of Liberty, and that is still true today.
I bet you didn't know Al Gore was one of the signers...
Don't bother.
While this document is an exaggeration, the Snopes site is equally bad.
Snopes claims none of this document is true, but in fact many of the signers did suffer harm due to their support for the CAUSE of Indpeendence. Snopes plays a subtle word switch by saying that none of the, suffered harm for signing the document. True enough: the British didn't care anything beyond that they captured enemy combattants. That was enough. But the fact is that many were captured, killed, impoverished or mortally sickened by living up to the OATH contained in the document.
Please, people: Snopes is hard-core leftism. Do not refer people to it!
I don't find the supposed "debunking" at snopes very convincing at all.
Snopes focuses all its attention on how "none of them were specifically targeted for having signed the Declaration", which of course completely misses the point.
They signed a document knowing that by doing so it would start a war, and in that war all their lives and fortune will be put at risk.
Whoever wrote that at snopes is an intellectual fraud.
That's a matter of opinion, but I'll forego arguing it. I think the point you concede is one that's important: those who signed the Declaration of Independence were remarkable men in the final analysis; they don't need a glurge fiction to make them any more noble. When such fictions are allowed to stand, they only denigrate the character of the real people who founded this nation.
John Hart was my g-g-g-g-greatgrandfather. I always want to live to what he did for our Nation. Thanks for the reminder!!!
The debunking would have been more persuasive if they actually pointed out what the "glurge" was.
It didn't say anything was factually untrue, only that those men were "targeted", which is a very weak rebuttle. It seems clear Snopes was determined to prove this article false, couldn't come up with anything, and nitpicked instead.
Oh come on.
Maybe sometimes, but not all the time. See http://www.snopes.com/glurge/birdwell.htm.
Hell, snopes is more balanced than CBS, the NY Times and/or the LA Times or any other major media outlet.
Oh come on what?
I read the article, I don't need you to link to me again. Now tell me, where did the article point out any falsehoods, other than claiming that those men suffered as revolutionaries in general and not as signers specifically. All I ask is proof that those men did not suffer in the way the article said they did, it would be simple to proof or disproof those claims, not one time did Snopes say that any of the tales involving any of them were false.
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