WHATEVER BECAME OF ... THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE?
The 56 patriots who signed America's Declaration of Independence pledged "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." Of the 56 signers, REMEMBER:
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 Continental Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They had pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. And they meant it!
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants. Nine were farmers and large plantation owners. They were men of means, and well educated. Yet they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well 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.
Lest we forget.
Thank you for the reminder of their sacrifices.
These guys:
Delaware • George Read • Caesar Rodney
• Thomas McKean
Pennsylvania • George Clymer • Benjamin Franklin
• Robert Morris • John Morton
• Benjamin Rush • George Ross
• James Smith • James Wilson
• George Taylor
Massachusetts • John Adams • Samuel Adams
• John Hancock • Robert Treat Paine
• Elbridge Gerry
New Hampshire • Josiah Bartlett • William Whipple
• Matthew Thornton
Rhode Island • Stephen Hopkins • William Ellery
New York • Lewis Morris • Philip Livingston
• Francis Lewis • William Floyd
Georgia • Button Gwinnett • Lyman Hall
• George Walton
Virginia • Richard Henry Lee • Francis Lightfoot Lee
• Carter Braxton • Benjamin Harrison
• Thomas Jefferson • George Wythe
• Thomas Nelson, Jr.
North Carolina • William Hooper • John Penn
• Joseph Hewes
South Carolina • Edward Rutledge • Arthur Middleton
• Thomas Lynch, Jr. • Thomas Heyward, Jr.
New Jersey • Abraham Clark • John Hart
• Francis Hopkinson • Richard Stockton
• John Witherspoon
Connecticut • Samuel Huntington • Roger Sherman
• William Williams • Oliver Wolcott
Maryland • Charles Carroll • Samuel Chase
• Thomas Stone • William Paca