RE: Signer's of Declaration of Independence - Rlugowski
Subject: RE: Signer's of Declaration of Independence
From: Rlugowski
Date: June 24, 2000

I ran across the below info. researching a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence and found it quite interesting.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed 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. A few weeks later he 
died from exhaustion and a broken heart.  John Hart died in 1779, without 
ever seeing his family again. 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 about what happened in the Revolutionary War.  We didn't 
fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought 
our own government!


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