Men of Honor...

As I sit here, it is Friday evening here in the United States, July 2, 1999.
Sunday is the Fourth of July, the day we Americans celebrate our independence.
The Unites States is not very old by the standards of many countries in the
world. The Declaration of Independence was an action of the Second Continental
Congress, July 4, 1776. It begins with the words "When in the course of
human events ..." and was signed by 56 men. Some famous names from our history
are repesented in the signatures on the Declaration of Independence, the name
most associated with the Declaration being John Hancock, the first person to
sign the document. The other signers were:

GEORGIA: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton.

NORTH-CAROLINA: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn.

SOUTH-CAROLINA: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr.,
Arthur Middleton.

MARYLAND: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll.

VIRGINIA: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison,
Thomas Nelson Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.

PENNSYLVANIA: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton,
George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross.

DELAWARE: Caesar Rodney, George Read.

NEW-YORK: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Frank Lewis, Lewis Morris.

NEW-JERSEY: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart,
Abraham Clark.

NEW-HAMPSHIRE: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton.

MASSACHUSETTS-BAY: Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry.

RHODE-ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE: C. Stephan Hopkins, William Ellery.

CONNECTICUT: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott.

Some of these names are well known in American history (John Adams,
Benjamin Franklin) but have you ever wondered what happened to the
56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured 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 opposing Navy. He sold his home and properties to
pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by search parties 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 opposing
forces had taken over the Nelson home for their 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. His wife was jailed and
died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13
children fled. 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
and 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 of what happened in the Revolutionary War. Some of us take
these liberties too much for granted ... We shouldn't.

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

Happy Birthday, America!
Tom

(From Thomas S. Ellsworth tellswor@slonet.org, http://www.slonet.org/ )

7/4/1999