Posted on 07/04/2008 6:45:54 AM PDT by angkor
Does that include John Hancock? Why didn't the British target them specifically? Were they that dumb that they wouldn't go after the leaders of the Revolution?
You’re welcome neverdem. America is on her way toward another year of
more dependance. Let’s all do one thing every day to stop the flood.
—Write or call a representative.
—Teach actual history to anyone who will listen.
—Memorize the Declaration of Independence
—Memorize the Bill of Rights
—Make your own coffee, then send $5 to support conservative causes.
—Read Thomas Sowell
—Listen to Rush Limbaugh
—Stand for the National Anthem, take your hat off, put your hand over your heart and ... SING!
—Remind anyone who will listen that men were also part of American history
—Hire a white male
Check out a book entitled “The Day The American Revolution Began” by William H. Hallahan. The author seems to be a bit of a Lib, but he doesn’t wear it on his sleeve, and he is a very good historian without “embellishing” towards the Left. It covers the April 19, 1775 Lexington engagement of Captain John Parker and his militia, the subsequent engagements at Concord and back to Boston, Bunker Hill, etc., in very well documented fashion.
And the auther DOES in fact specifically state that were PRICES on Hancock’s, BOTH Adamses’, and Jefferson’s heads, as well as many others involved in fomenting the War of American Independence.
Well worth the read. Then read David McCullough’s “1776”. They flow together very nicely, time-line wise.
As for Sherman’s “debunking” - I don’t believe everything Snopes has on it’s site, like I don’t believe in Wikipedia; today, as someone mentioned earlier in this thread, there is a concerted effort to re-write the past to conform to the socialist/liberal notion of All Dead White Christian European Males = BAD, and every-other-perversity-under-the-sun=GOOD.
My history will ALWAYS be filled with the Patriots of my American past - great men (and women), both absurdly normal AND extraordinary, who lived, loved, sinned, laughed, drank too much, gambled, hated, gained fortunes, lost everything, fought, triumphed, failed, and died finally, like all of us must - all while living in times that were forcibly thrust upon them not of their own making nor of their own choice.
I’d say that ALL of those people would have rather just lived out thier lives peaceably, and, in true Conservative fashion, just wanted to be LEFT THE HELL ALONE to do so, and in true American fashion, were determined to FIGHT BACK to ensure that they COULD be left alone when their backs were finally against the wall.
But God has plans for people, and He places us all in the inexorable juggernaut of destiny; when we ask “Why me?” the answer is almost always “Because We’re HERE, and no one else.”
And we ARE sufficient for the day. If it means we die, we die. So be it. We ALL die eventually. Better to die fighting for something worth believing in than live under the yoke of someone else’s whims or under his boot.
I WILL take Mr. Limbaugh’s write-up with a small grain of salt, allowing for “embellishment” only due to that of a man with a PASSIONATE AMERICAN PATRIOTISM for the continuing GLORIOUS CAUSE OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY.
The Revolution is not over yet; it is an ON-GOING massive wheel that WE must keep pushing in OUR direction, because surely if we let go of it, or regard it with a moment’s inattention, it will roll back upon us and crush us all under it’s weight. We are seeing that now - we fell asleep for a little while in the late 60’s and the forces of socialist liberalism started pushing AGAINST that wheel on the opposite side. It remains to be seen which side will be stronger.
Like it or not, these times are thrust upon us, and we’re the only ones here. We ARE the thin red, white, and blue line.
Our Founders WERE flawed individuals; ALL of us are. HOWEVER - THEY PUT THEIR NAMES ON THAT DOCUMENT, which they knew was an instant death warrant. Regardless of any “embellishment” in the story - THEY SIGNED IT, knowing full well that they were putting their families’ lives in dire jeopardy.
How many of us would do the same, knowing how our current version of the Crown (Fed) operates? Are we willing to sacrifice our 401ks, our comfortable houses, everything we own, and not the least, our families for something so vague as “liberty”???
For myself, I know the answer. Each of us may be forced to make that decision someday, and it is a decision that we all face alone, in the dark corners of our hearts, where we weigh courage versus cowardice, and principle versus practice, away from the eyes of our peers.
We blog out here, for the WORLD to see. Do you not think for one instant that what we write couldn’t be construed as “treason” to some government handed over to corrupt socialist liberals??? Did 1992-2000, Waco, Ruby Ridge, etc., teach us anything?
I’d say that Free Republic is, at the end of the day, a modern Declaration of Independence.
For God and Country...God bless America, and all of you.
Stay safe ........woof !
[... But God has plans for people, and He places us
all in the inexorable juggernaut of destiny; when we
ask “Why me?” the answer is almost always “Because
We’re HERE, and no one else.”
And we ARE sufficient for the day. If it means we die,
we die. So be it. We ALL die eventually. Better to die
fighting for something worth believing in than live under
the yoke of someone else’s whims or under his boot...]
Your entire post ... simply beautiful!
“I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”
NATHAN (F) HALE
Snopes? You believe Snopes? Grow some sense
or take your revisionist trolling somewhere else?
Dear Avocado:
Going strictly by his remarks, and having never met the man; Sherman Logan and persons like him, who stand back and make petty criticisms of the efforts of others remind me of a term we used to use in a former life in The U.S. Army Security Agency.
Persons who carped and criticized others on piccayune technicalities were given the title of “Pointy Ass”.
There aren’t terribly many pointy asses in the world, but they move around a lot, so you keep running into them!
I question Snopes too at times, but your argument is not with Sherman Logan.
Also, this site pretty much agrees with Snopes.
Under duress in a British prison, Richard Stockton
of New Jersey had the singular misfortune to become
... THE SIGNER WHO RECANTED.
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1975/4/1975_4_22.shtml
One signer, following capture by the British and under pressure of a harsh confinement during what was without question the darkest hour of the Revolution for the American cause, did then defect, by taking an oath of obedience to the king and pledging that he would take no further part in the pending struggle.
It was probably the harsh treatment suffered while in British confinement that had broken Richard Stockton’s spirit to the point where he would renounce every principle he had espoused for over a decade. We have no way of knowing whether he had also been subjected to psychological pressure, such as daily recitals of the military reverses being suffered by the Continental Army. But it is evident that the physical regimen imposed upon him had broken his body, too; it took him three full years to recover his health.
Perhaps Free Republic ought to rethink
recommending Snopes as a reference source.
AMERICAN HERITAGE
http://www.americanheritage.com/
MY HERITAGE
http://www.squidoo.com/myheritageMythBusters
TRUTH OR FICTION
TruthOrFiction.com
FACT CHECK
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/huckabees_fiscal_record.html
FIND ARTICLES
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_12_18/ai_84396670
COMMON SENSE CONSERVATIVE
http://commonsenseconservative.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/06/liberal-myth-busters.html
HOAX BUSTERS
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxIndex.html
SCAM BUSTERS
http://www.scambusters.org/legends.html
Wikipedia is just an embarrassment. CONSERVAPEDIA is another online
encyclopedia that will help to balance the scales.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Main_Page.
Stocketon would have been neither the first nor last person in history to do the unthinkable while captured.
Remember Steve Centanni and his photographer ‘converting’ to Islam? Sometimes you do what you have to do. If it spares your life or your family’s life, you can make amends later. If they kill you, you can no longer serve any cause or purpose other than martyrdom.
Yup.
... Richard Stockton, despite his impaired health,
[took] a new oath of allegiance to the state of New
Jersey in December, 1777- That oath is preserved
in the state’s archives.
TruthOrFiction backs up Snopes on this. See post #71.
bookmark
TRUTH OR FICTION AND SNOPES
First, none of the signers of the Declaration of Independence died in captivity. All but two, or possibly three, died natural deaths and the majority of them lived to advanced age and had adequate possessions if not wealth. Of the deaths, Thomas Lynch, Jr. was lost at sea on a recreational voyage, Button Gwinett died from injuries in a duel with a political rival, and George Wythe was thought to have been poisoned by a man who wanted his estate, but the man was acquitted. At least four of the signers were captured by the British, but apparently because they were soldiers, not signers of the Declaration. We consulted seven sources about the signers and none contained accounts of what could be called torture, at least not that was directed toward any of them for being founding fathers. Two who were captured may have experienced some kind of torture because of the severity of their confinement, but that is conjecture. All were released and died natural deaths, although the health of some was affected by their imprisonment.
********************************
ALLIANCE FOR LIFE
http://www.alliance4lifemin.org/categorized_articles/heritage/whatever_happened_56_men/whatever_happened_56_men.htm
In all, five of the fifty-six were captured by the British and tortured. Twelve had their homes ransacked, looted, confiscated by the enemy, or burned to the ground. Seventeen lost their fortunes. Two lost their sons in the army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six lost their lives in the war, from wounds or hardships inflicted by the enemy.
*************************************
HERITAGE FOUNDATION
http://www.heritage.org/Research/AmericanFoundingandHistory/BG1451.cfm
A NOTE ON THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
“...we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
(Each year information about those who signed the Declaration of Independence is circulated, not all of which is accurate. The following note is based on research in several established sources, which are noted below.)
Fifty-six individuals from each of the original 13 colonies participated in the Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. Pennsylvania sent nine delegates to the congress, followed by Virginia with seven and Massachusetts and New Jersey with five. Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and South Carolina each sent four delegates. Delaware, Georgia, New Hampshire, and North Carolina each sent three. Rhode Island, the smallest colony, sent only two delegates to Philadelphia.
Nine of the signers were immigrants, two were brothers, two were cousins, and one was an orphan. The average age of a signer was 45. The oldest delegate was Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, who was 70 when he signed the Declaration. The youngest was Thomas Lynch, Jr., of South Carolina, who was 27.
Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers, and four were doctors. Forty-two signers had served in their colonial legislatures. Twenty-two were lawyers—although William Hooper of North Carolina was “disbarred” when he spoke out against the Crown—and nine were judges. Stephen Hopkins had been Governor of Rhode Island.
Although two others had been clergy previously, John Witherspoon of New Jersey was the only active clergyman to attend—he wore his pontificals to the sessions. Almost all were Protestant Christians; Charles Carroll of Maryland was the only Roman Catholic signer.
Seven of the signers were educated at Harvard, four each at Yale and William & Mary, and three at Princeton. John Witherspoon was the president of Princeton and George Wythe was a professor at William & Mary, where his students included the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson.
Seventeen of the signers served in the military during the American Revolution. Thomas Nelson was a colonel in the Second Virginia Regiment and then commanded Virginia military forces at the Battle of Yorktown. William Whipple served with the New Hampshire militia and was one of the commanding officers in the decisive Saratoga campaign. Oliver Wolcott led the Connecticut regiments sent for the defense of New York and commanded a brigade of militia that took part in the defeat of General Burgoyne. Caesar Rodney was a Major General in the Delaware militia and John Hancock was the same in the Massachusetts militia.
Five of the signers were captured by the British during the war. Captains Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, and Arthur Middleton (South Carolina) were all captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780; Colonel George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. Richard Stockton of New Jersey never recovered from his incarceration at the hands of British Loyalists and died in 1781.
Colonel Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote John Adams that he was “hunted like a fox by the enemy—compelled to remove my family five times in a few months, and at last fixed them in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna . . . and they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians.” Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons captured by the British during the war. The son of John Witherspoon, a major in the New Jersey Brigade, was killed at the Battle of Germantown.
Eleven signers had their homes and property destroyed. Francis Lewis’s New York home was destroyed and his wife was taken prisoner. John Hart’s farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey and he died while fleeing capture. Carter Braxton and Thomas Nelson (both of Virginia) lent large sums of their personal fortunes to support the war effort, but were never repaid.
Fifteen of the signers participated in their states’ constitutional conventions, and six—Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, James Wilson, and George Reed—signed the United States Constitution. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts attended the federal convention and, though he later supported the document, refused to sign the Constitution.
After the Revolution, 13 of the signers went on to become governors, and 18 served in their state legislatures. Sixteen became state and federal judges. Seven became members of the United States House of Representatives, and six became United States Senators. James Wilson and Samuel Chase became Justices of the United States Supreme Court.
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Elbridge Gerry each became Vice President, and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson became President. The sons of signers John Adams and Benjamin Harrison also became Presidents.
Five signers played major roles in the establishment of colleges and universities: Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania; Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia; Benjamin Rush and Dickinson College; Lewis Morris and New York University; and George Walton and the University of Georgia.
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Charles Carroll were the longest surviving signers. Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Charles Carroll of Maryland was the last signer to die—in 1832 at the age of 95.
Sources: Robert Lincoln, Lives of the Presidents of the United States, with Biographical Notices of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Brattleboro Typographical Company, 1839); John and Katherine Bakeless, Signers of the Declaration (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969); Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989).
Recent Heritage Studies - Martin Luther King’s Conservative Legacy by Carolyn Garris
January 12, 2006
Advice and Consent: What the Constitution Says by John McGinnis July 19, 2005
Giving Thanks to God by Matthew Spalding, Ph.D.
November 26, 2003
Contact An Expert MEDIA INFORMATION LINE:
Phone: 202.675.1761 Fax: 202.544.6979
****************************************
EXCERPTS FROM AN ESSAY BY JAMES ELBRECHT
Contact me at elbrecht@email.com - James Elbrecht June, 2000
http://home.nycap.rr.com/elbrecht/signers/HARVEY-reb.htm
Nine of the fifty-six died in the war, from its hardships or from its more merciful bullets.
Nine died during the war. One died from a bullet; fired in a duel with a fellow officer. None died at the hands of the British, and none died due to ‘hardships’. One was lost at sea.
It’s easy enough to check to see who died before the war was over. Here they are, and, when available, a cause of death.
Morton, John, PA, died April 1777 aged 53 of ??? (K&BJ give no detail of how)[father died ae41]
Gwinnett, Button, GA, died May 16, 1777 aged 42, from wounds sustained in a duel.
Livingston, Philip, NY, died June 12, 1778 at 62, of “dropsy of the chest” [father died ae63]
Lynch, Thomas Jr., SC, died [probably] in 1779 ae30. Lost at sea. [father died ae49]
Hart, John, NJ, died May 11, 1779; aged 68[66?], of kidney stones [father died ae63]
Ross, George, PA, died July 14, 1779 aged 49, of gout [father died ae76]
Hewes, Joseph, NC, died Oct 10, 1779, aged 49, according to Bakeless of “overwork and irregular bachelor hours” [father died ae80-90]
Taylor, George, PA, Feb 23, 1781 at 65 yr. old
Stockton, Richard, NJ, died Feb 28, 1781 at 50, of Cancer of the lip. [father died ae86]
Good response, thank you. I don’t know if I’ll have time to read all these, but appreciate you providing the resources. The original signers of the Declaration of Independence were heroes all!!!
That was and is outstanding. Thank you and Amen.
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