posted on July 3, 2004 11:18:08 PM new
Did You Ever Wonder What Happened to The Signers of the Declaration of Independence?
4TH OF JULY
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?
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.
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. He never saw any of his family again.
How many of us would show such sacrifice under similar circumstances today.
Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.
Remember: freedom is never free!
"The natural family is a man and woman bound in a lifelong covenant of marriage for the purposes of:
*the continuation of the human species,
*the rearing of children,
*the regulation of sexuality,
*the provision of mutual support and protection,
*the creation of an altruistic domestic economy, and
*the maintenance of bonds between the generations."
posted on July 4, 2004 04:01:45 AM new
This thing has been floating about the internet for 3 or 4 years now. And like most things of its type generally ignores history. www.snopes.com gives a run down on it. And a little independent reserach also shows the holes in it.
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Actually, while 5 signers were captured, only one (Stockton) could be said to have been captured as a "traitor" as he was betrayed to the British by Loyalists. The others were engaged in military pursuits when captured. None were "tortured" although Stockton is said to have been "poorly treated."
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. AND Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
First of all, no one named Dillery signed the Declaration of Independence. Other than that, yes several had their homes ransacked or destroyed--but then so did thousands of others who had nothing to do with signing the Declaration... There was a war on.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Finally. Yes, Witherspoon & Morton each lost a son, and both of Clark's sons were captured and later released. But, again, the same can be said of many who had nothing to do with signing the Declaration...
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
Actually, only 17 of the 56 signers served in the military, and none of them died from wounds or hardships suffered in the Revolutionary War.
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.
And 16 were weren't all that well off, though highly respected. And, yes, they all showed moral courage in signing the document. Moral courage that was also shown by many other patriots who had nothing to dowith the signing.
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.
Many lost their fortunes during the war,so this doesn't make him special. And while he was impoverished, he was hardly "in rags" as he retained his family estate, Chericoke, which is still owned by his descendants.
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.
Actually McKean was not re-elected to the Delaware Congress in 1776 due to loyalist opposition (not "British". His family was forced to move five times within a matter of months, including a stay in a little log house on the Susquehanna River, from which they were driven by Indians. And far from being poor, in his will he bequeathed a large estate including stocks and bonds, and tracts of land in Pennsylvania.
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.
Um...not exactly. A legend of the battle of Yorktown has that Nelson offered money to the first American artillerist to hit his home. He believed British officers would be occupying the house. Evidence of the damage still exists today, but the house wasn't "destroyed." Nelson did die in poverty, not because of his house, but because of the effect of the war on his business--and the huge loan he made to help finance Virginia's war costs, which the state never repaid.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
A fact! A fact! Well, mostly. Lewis did lose his house & property, and his wife was imprisoned. She was maltreated, too. However, she did not die "within a few months"--rather she died a little more than a year after she was released.
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. He never saw any of his family again.
Uh-Uh. Here's what really happened: "Shortly after signing the Declaration, he was elected to the new State Assembly and chosen its Speaker. When he left Philadelphia to take his seat in the state legislature at Princeton, his farm, livestock, grist mills and property were destroyed by Hessian mercenaries. Because of these hardships, Hart's wife became ill, and due to his frequent absences to be at her side, the State Assembly adjourned until November because they could not hold business without the Speaker. His wife died the same day the decision to adjourn was made. Upon hearing the British were seeking to capture him, Hart eluded them by hiding in forests and sleeping in caves. His children were forced to hide and seek refuge with family and friends."
Were the signers of the Declaration men of moral courage? Yes.
Did they suffer more than others fighting against England? No.
Were they perfect? No. And a few of them would be pilloried today if they were here to enter politics--especially those that owned slaves and the three that had children out of wedlock.
edited for UBB
____________________
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
[ edited by bunnicula on Jul 4, 2004 04:04 AM ]
posted on July 4, 2004 06:08:16 AM new
Good job, bunni!
Isn't this post by someone like bear hilarious anyway.....spouting his big yap about freedom when all his other posts are about killing the freedoms of people who aren't exactly like him!
According to bear, everyone has to think, feel, be exactly the same....kind of a Commmunistic way of looking at things but it's bear's way..
"The natural family is a man and woman bound in a lifelong covenant of marriage for the purposes of:
*the continuation of the human species,
*the rearing of children,
*the regulation of sexuality,
*the provision of mutual support and protection,
*the creation of an altruistic domestic economy, and
*the maintenance of bonds between the generations."
posted on July 4, 2004 12:59:44 PM new
Wow, Bear! There was a witty and erudite reply!
The thing is, if you didn't rely on specious sources of information like this all the time, you wouldn't end up with egg on your face so much.
Like your dying kid story, this post was filled with heart-warming, touching stuff sure to bring a tear to the eye and raise pride for those signers.
Unfortunately it was riddled with errors and downright falsehoods. And, knowing your usual sources as I do, my curiousity led me to do a bit of investigation.
There's so much true stuff about the characters and problems of the signers--and many other people involved in the Revolution, that you really don't need to rely on crap like you posted, Bear.
____________________
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
posted on July 4, 2004 02:10:37 PM newTRUE things about the Signers of the Declaration of Independence:
They all showed courage in signing a document that could have led to their deaths.
Caeser Rodney rode eighty miles through a storm to get back to the Continental Congress when his vote was needed desperately to break the deadlock in the Delaware delegation. His affirmative vote secured the consent of the Delaware delegation to the measure, and thus affected that unanimity among the colonies that was so essential to the cause of independence. AND he persevered as a delegate and as a colonel in the Delaware militia despite the fact that his face & one eye was ravaged by a large cancer, which eventually killed him on June 26, 1784 at the age of 56.
Thomas Nelson, Jr., as I already noted, gave his fortune (said to be $2 million!) to the state of Virginia to finance the war--and was never repaid.
Benjamin Franklin was 69 years old when the Revolution started, yet he worked tirelessly for the cause. And despite having no formal education after he was 10 years old, he became a statesman--and scientist--respected throughout the colonies & Europe. He helped Jefferson edit the Declaration. Despite his age, he travelled as a diplomat to France during the war. His procurement of French financial and military aid was critical to America’s eventually winning the war against England.
Benjamin Rush was a physician who practice extensively among the poor of Philadelphia. He published the first AMerican textbook on Chemistry. He was a surgeon-general for the Continental Army. His one drawback, , was that he campaigned to have Washington replaced as head of armed forces after a long series of defeats...
Robert Morris loaned $10,000 of his own money to the government. This money provisioned the desperate troops a Valley Forge, who went on to win the Battle of Trenton and turn the course of the war. Throughout the war he personally underwrote the operations of privateers, ships that ran the British Blockades at great risk and thus brought needed supplies and capital into the colonies. In 1781 he devised a plan for a National Bank and submitted it to Congress. It was approved and became The Bank of North America, an institution that brought stability to the colonial economy, facilitated continued finance of the War effort, and would ultimately establish the credit of the United States with the nations of Europe.
John Adams was a very active member of congress, he was engaged by as many as ninety committees and chaired twenty-five during the second Continental Congress. He tirelessly worked for his country--so much so that years would sometimes pass that he would not see his wife.
Philip Livingston worked tirelessly for the continental congress despite failing health. He said his goodbyes to friends & family, not expecting to see them again, as he left for his duties 1778 and died while working for his country.
George Wythe was known for his integrity and patriotism. He was, among other things, Virginia's foremost classical scholar, dean of its lawyers, a Williamsburg alderman and mayor, a member of the House of Burgesses, and house clerk. He was the colony's attorney general, a delegate to the Continental Congress, speaker of the state assembly, the nation's first college law professor, Virginia's chancellor, and a framer of the federal Constitution. He freed his slaves & made provisions for their support until they could earn a living for themselves. His grand-nephew, on discovering that Wythe had conditionally willed part of the family property to his slaves, decided to enlarge his own share by poisoning them with arsenic. He incidentally murdered George Wythe in the process. Wythe died on June 8th, 1806 at the age of eighty.
Just a few true things about the signers of the Declaration. The one thing they all seemed to have incommon was their willingness and drive to work for the good of the community. They were, indeed, great men for the most part. Being human they had their faults and a couple were scoundrels--Gwinnett and Gerry come to mind. (We have Gerry to thank for ther term "gerrymandering."
edited for UBB
____________________
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
[ edited by bunnicula on Jul 4, 2004 02:14 PM ]
posted on July 5, 2004 12:27:25 PM new
Apparently it is the only language you libs understand.
"The natural family is a man and woman bound in a lifelong covenant of marriage for the purposes of:
*the continuation of the human species,
*the rearing of children,
*the regulation of sexuality,
*the provision of mutual support and protection,
*the creation of an altruistic domestic economy, and
*the maintenance of bonds between the generations."
[ edited by Bear1949 on Jul 5, 2004 12:29 PM ]
posted on July 5, 2004 03:07:34 PM new
As usual, Bear makes a reply that makes no sense at all and has nothing to do with what has been said....
____________________
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
posted on July 6, 2004 09:40:47 AM new
Another endlessly recycled, misinformed email Bear got from some "friend".
Bear, do you ever check the veracity of these things, or do you just mindlessly forward them on, like the people who send them to you?
There's plenty of sacrifice and loss in the real story of American independence, why defile that history with half truths and exaggerations?
___________________________________
Belief? What do I believe in? I believe in sun. In rock. In the dogma of the sun and the doctrine of the rock. I believe in blood, fire, woman, rivers, eagles, storms, drums, flutes, banjos, and broom-tailed horses....
Edward Abbey
. His family was forced to move five times within a matter of months, including a stay in a little log house on the Susquehanna River, from which they were driven by Indians. And far from being poor, in his will he bequeathed a large estate including stocks and bonds, and tracts of land in Pennsylvania.
, was that he campaigned to have Washington replaced as head of armed forces after a long series of defeats...
