Posted on 08/27/2009 4:52:26 AM PDT by vanilla swirl
What happened to the signers of 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.
Two years in the US Army during the Korean War. But the Lion was stationed in Paris.
They also knew if they lost the war, they were signing their own death warrant. Each and everyone would of been hung for treason.
“assuming that there WILL be a “next election”,”
Don’t count on another one.
“Our founders literally put their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor on the line for a free America. Are we willing to do the same???
I, for one, most assuredly am. As a younger man, I represented my country fighting for other people’s freedom and could have cared less. I would willing sacrifice my life to free my own people (Americans) from the marxist tyrants currently in charge of this country.”
I am not a young man anymore, as a young man I was foolish and was sucked into the anti-Vietnam War crap and by luck, design, or grace turned 18 about the time the draft ended.
I’ve only become a flaming freedom fighter the last few years as I have gained wisdom. I am torn by what is going on in our country today, looking back on what our forefathers did to secure this country but being a Christian I understand that “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
I fear we are very close to an event that may change everything. Obama is just looking for an excuse to formally suspend the Constitution and declare martial law. Even Glenn Beck alluded to this last night.
sadly agree with you—I can sense the darkness swirling around our country. I, too, served my country—along with my husband and my father. Don’t forget there are many women who will gladly defend their homes, their families, their country, their constitution against this present darkness.
I may have been an “admin puke” but I still did very well in my M-16 and 9mm training!!! This Southern girl comes from a long line of patriots starting with the Revolutionary War and my children know their heritage...
Actually a pretty large presense in France until the late 60s when France withdrew from NATO. Truman called Eisenhower back into the service in 1951 to head SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) and Ike
established his HQ outside Paris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Headquarters_Allied_Powers_Europe
FWIW, IMO zero has already suspended the Constitution and declared war on the American people.
The shooting just hasn’t started, yet.
I think they knew what they faced, we face less, but our fight is just as real today.
We have far less to loose individually, but as much collectively
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