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
Dilery, 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 thirteen 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. 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. We didn't just fight the British. We were British subjects a
that time and we fought our own government! Perhaps you can now see why our
founding fathers had a hatred for standing armies and allowed through the second
amendment for everyone to be armed.
Some of us take these liberties so much for
granted.
We Shouldn't!
