Should have been posted on the 4th

[valley ranch]

What most of us do not know about the Declaration of Independence....what we owe to the brave men who signed it.

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

ONE 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?

24 WERE LAWYERS AND JURISTS.
11 WERE MERCHANTS
9 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

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday weekend and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: Freedom is never free.

hopefully, you will forward this information on so we get the word out that patriotism and the Fourth of July means more than beer, picnics and baseball games.
======================================================

And my own personal comment: Remember our Veterans who have fought for our country and many have sacrificed greatly.....whether it be their death or many types of physical and/or emotional wounds that never heal.

We'll keep this for the next many 4ths

 

[Nyboy]

Fascinating read !!! Don't teach that in school.

 

[so lucky]

I wish the schools would teach kids that freedom is not free. We adults need to remember that, too. Thanks for posting this, @valley ranch.

 

[Smart Red]

"They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor."

The order of these words has greater meaning than most people realize. Try explaining to fifth graders that these brave men (John Hancock wrote big so the king could read his name without glasses) pledged their lives first.

They would die for this cause if necessary. Second in importance -- greater than their lives -- was their fortune. Without money they knew their family would become paupers and providing for family was of utmost importance in the social circles they in which they lived. Sacred Honor was the most important part of their pledge. A man would be considered dead to even his family if he disgraced himself as dis-honorable man.

Students of that age always considered the most important was life, then money, and honor wasn't all that big of a deal.

What these men did is nothing short of heroic! One day a year is not nearly enough to give them due credit.

 

[Nyboy]

What is sad, one of the signers grave is in shambles over grown and unkept graffiti everywhere. The church where the graveyard is, is flat broke. The same thing happened to Washington's house, till a wealthy woman restored it. We forget quickly our past heroes.

 

[canesisters]

Loved it, thanks for posting.

I though that there were 20-something that were preachers...???
History was never my best subject..

 

[seedcorn]

Anyone see mini series over 4th on Revoluntionary War? While brave, most were forced into joining the war. Either way they were broke. Mini series put starting the war on Samuel Adams and George Washington. They were already fighting before the declaration was signed. Again, not sure how accurate the portrayal was.

The rich of America only joined because England was taxing them to poverty and confiscating their goods.

 

[thistlebloom]

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in the historical accuracy of a mini-series. These are the days of history revision.

 

[seedcorn]

While I tend to agree, start of war was 4-19-1775. Declaration was signed 7-4-1776. Original Declaration of Independence was signed only by John Hancock and Charles Thomson. The other signatures came later with some as late as 8-2-1776. Some state leaders refused to sign it.

British actually started the war by burning cities and farm steads down, leaving the locals 2 alternatives, flee or fight.

 

[Smart Red]

Remember the "Ride of Paul Revere"? On the 18th of April in '75 hardly a man is still alive who remembers that famous day and year.

The war started the next day at the Lexington bridge as the British were marching through to Concord to confiscate the arms stored there. This event, also known as "the shot heard 'round the world", was the official beginning of the dispute.

During the following months the colonists decided that winning a set of skirmishes and getting King George to change his ways was not going to work. That's when the "Declaration of Independence" was written. It gave official notice that they considered themselves colonists no longer, but citizens of a new country. It was never intended to be a Declaration of War, but to announce to England and the world the birth of a new country.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. (I have it memorized, but copied it for speed. I have approx. 1/3 of "Paul Revere's Ride" by Longfellow memorized as well.)

(seedcorn said) "The rich of America only joined because England was taxing them to poverty and confiscating their goods."

Is this a slam against the hard working men who fathered this country? Should they have waited until they were impoverished to join? ONLY joined? Wasn't the whole idea of getting rid of English rule aimed at freedom from arbitrary and confiscatory laws and lack of representation by the colonists?

There were many rich who preferred to remain with England -- remember the Tories? It was not a war for rich people, for pelts, for tobacco, stamps, or tea. It was a war for freedom; for the colonists to govern themselves. As valley ranch's posting earlier shows, the signers were not positioning themselves to further add to their coffers.