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| Painting by John Trumbull Courtesy of Wikipedia |
The 4th of July of 2022 is long gone for another year. But a look back at this past Independence Day is somewhat different. One poll showed only 41% of respondents were proud to be Americans. Indeed, the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence were flawed. More than half were slave holders. Unlike Lewis Morris of New York, who said, “Damn the consequences, give me the pen,” Lyman Hall of Georgia signed reluctantly. John Hancock, whose name and signature we all know had a bounty on his head. Yet he signed boldly, giving others the confidence in the right of their actions. One of those grievances was that England had forbidden colonists to settle in the Ohio Country or any other English territory west of the Appalachians. They signed “with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, mutually pledged to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” They did so knowing full well they were committing treason. If captured, torture and death awaited them.
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| Courtesy of Mount Vernon.org |
There were 14 farmers, 18 merchants, 22 lawyers, four
doctors, nine judges, and one minister. The oldest was the beloved Benjamin Franklin
at 70. The youngest was Thomas Lynch, Jr. of South Carolina. He was only 27. All
were well educated with much to lose.
And so it was that 17 fought in the American
Revolution. Two lost sons serving in the Revolutionary Army. Five of the
signers were captured including Thomas Rutledge, Thomas Heyward and Arthur
Middleton. George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. The
British dragged Richard Stockton of New Jersey from his bed, stripped him of
his home and property, and threw him into prison where he nearly starved to
death.
Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote John Adams that he was
“hunted like a fox by the enemy.” He was forced to move his family
continuously. The property and home of Francis Lewis of New York was destroyed.
The British captured Elizabeth Lewis at the Battle of Brooklyn. She was jailed
as the wife of a traitor. The conditions were so inhumane that she died within
months after release.
The British looted the property and home of John Hart
of New Jersey. Hart hid out for more than a year. But still, he offered George
Washington his fields as an encampment for his 12,000 soldiers. Hart died of
exhaustion in 1779, one of the 14 signers who did not survive to see America’s
victory.
Cornwallis confiscated Thomas Nelson, Jr.’s Yorktown
home to use for his headquarters. When American forces laid siege to Yorktown,
Brigadier General Nelson ordered artillerists to fire on his own home. The
structure survived. If you visit you can still see some of the damage. 
Thomas Nelson, Jr. Home, Yorktown
fully restored 1976
Courtesty of National Park Service
Though imperfect, the 56 sacrificed much. We know many did not live up to the ideals set
forth in the Declaration of Independence. But they fought, suffered, and some died
to give us a document that set us on the path of liberty and freedom previously
unknown in the history of the world.
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