Let's Celebrate Our
Independence!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!
Posted on 06/29/2007 5:37:04 AM PDT by Lucky9teen
| Independence!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!! |
Something to think about this 4th of July...
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 fought 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 time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
~Abraham Lincoln
I’m ready for my close-up!
It would be nice if ‘blond’ was spelled correctly. ;^)
How about a portable one?
I love that cartoon.
I always joke that the 4th of July is the perfect holiday since it incorporates both alcohol and explosive.
Both spellings are acceptable.
At least Merriam and Webster told me sew.
The etymology is Anglo-French =
blound, masculine, blounde, feminine
you’d be surprized how much punch even a tiny one can pack.
try this, take a small firecracker and put it on top of a bottle, set it off.. it’ll scorch a little off the wrapper, that’s about it.
now put it inside the bottle (and get away) bottle will explode. there’s a big difference between setting off an explosive and tamping/ confining it.
this guy prolly had his hand closed around a firecracker.
I agree. There is a lot of energy even in small firecrackers. When they are set off in the open air that energy works on the atmosphere an can expand and disipate quickly. At a rate of approxamately a cube root over distance.
But if it is contained that engery is going to work on what is containing it, in this case his hand.
On the flipside, that’s what make firecrackers and soup cans so much fun.
I had a good friend of mine have a Black Cat go off between his fingers. The result was a blood blister on his index finger and thumb. Granted, it wasn't confined, but that pic has all the skin stripped off the guy's fingers. Given that the hand is far from airtight, I don't see how regular firecracker does that much damage. I've set off firecrackers in a bottle (2 liter plastic bottle), and so long as you don't cap it the gases will escape and the bottle stays intact. Even confined that much damage has gotta be at least an M80.
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