Barb's Christian Webpage
Have you
ever wondered what happened to the
56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
I stumbled across this piece on Rush Limbaugh's website
My father, Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr., delivered this oft-requested address locally
a number of times, but it had never before appeared in print until it appeared
in The Limbaugh Letter. My dad was renowned for his oratory skills and for his
original mind; this speech is, I think, a superb demonstration of both. I will
always be grateful to him for instilling in me a passion for the ideas and
lives of America's Founders, as well as a deep appreciation for the
inspirational power of words which you will see evidenced here:
It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the
southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded young Virginian found
time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen
shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home.
Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was 72.5
degrees and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that hour. It was a lovely
room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The chairs were comfortable.
Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces, but they would not be used
today.
The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked, the room became an
oven. The tall windows were shut, so that loud quarreling voices could not be
heard by passersby. Small openings atop the windows allowed a slight stir of
air, and also a large number of horseflies. Jefferson records that "the
horseflies were dexterous in finding necks, and the silk of stockings was
nothing to them." All discussing was punctuated by the slap of hands on
necks.
On the wall at the back, facing the President's desk, was a panoply -
consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from Fort Ticonderoga the
previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured the place, shouting
that they were taking it "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the
Continental Congress!"
Now Congress got to work, promptly taking up an emergency measure about which
there was discussion but no dissention. "Resolved: That an application be
made to the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania for a supply of flints for the
troops at New York."
Then Congress transformed itself into a committee of the whole. The Declaration
of Independence was read aloud once more, and debate resumed. Though Jefferson
was the best writer of all of them, he had been somewhat verbose. Congress
hacked the excess away. They did a good job, as a side-by-side comparison of
the rough draft and the final text shows. They cut the phrase "by a
self-assumed power." "Climb" was replaced by "must
read," then must was eliminated, then the whole sentence, and soon the
whole paragraph was cut. Jefferson groaned as they continued, what he later
called "their depredations." "Inherent and inalienable
rights" came out "certain unalienable rights," and to this day
no one knows who suggested the elegant change.
A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were eliminated, leaving
1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling, the document was put to a vote.
Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: "I am no longer a
Virginian, Sir, but an American." But today the loud, sometimes bitter
argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken from north to south by
colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence
was adopted.
There were no trumpets blown. No one stood on his chair and cheered. The
afternoon was waning and Congress had no thought of delaying the full calendar
of routine business on its hands. For several hours they worked on many other
problems before adjourning for the day.
What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of
Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the
crown? To each of you, the names Franklin, Adams, Hancock, and Jefferson are
almost as familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know nothing of the
other signers. Who were they? What happened to them?
I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names not there:
George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were elsewhere.
Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under 40; three were in
their 20s. Of the 56 almost half - 24 - were judges and lawyers. Eleven were
merchants, 9 were landowners and farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors,
ministers, and politicians.
With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, these were
men of substantial property. All but two had families. The vast majority were
men of education and standing in their communities. They had economic security
as few men had in the 18th century.
Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it. John Hancock,
one of the richest men in America, already had a price of 500 pounds on his
head. He signed in enormous letters so that his Majesty could now read his name
without glasses and could now double the reward. Ben Franklin wryly noted:
"Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang
separately." Fat Benjamin Harrison of Virginia told tiny Elbridge Gerry of
Massachusetts: "With me it will all be over in a minute, but you, you will
be dancing on air an hour after I am gone."
These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by hanging.
And remember, a great British fleet was already at anchor in New York
Harbor.They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed intellectuals or draft
card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics, yammering for an
explosion. They simply asked for the status quo. It was change they resisted.
It was equality with the mother country they desired. It was taxation with
representation they sought. They were all conservatives, yet they rebelled.
It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to Philadelphia. Two
of them became presidents of the United States. Seven of them became state
governors. One died in office as vice president of the United States. Several
would go on to be U.S. Senators. One, the richest man in America, in 1828
founded the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. One, a delegate from Philadelphia, was
the only real poet, musician and philosopher of the signers (it was he, Francis
Hopkinson not Betsy Ross who designed the United States flag).
Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, had introduced the resolution to
adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. He was prophetic in his
concluding remarks: "Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still
deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her
arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and
law.
"The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example
of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the
ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to
prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repost.
If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American
Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those
whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good
citizens."
Though the resolution was formally adopted July 4, it was not until July 8 that
two of the states authorized their delegates to sign, and it was not until
August 2 that the signers met at Philadelphia to actually put their names to
the Declaration.
William Ellery, delegate from Rhode Island, was curious to see the signers'
faces as they committed this supreme act of personal courage. He saw some men
sign quickly, "but in no face was he able to discern real fear."
Stephan Hopkins, Ellery's colleague from Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he
signed with a shaking pen, he declared: "My hand trembles, but my heart
does not."
Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of
Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the
objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow
escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.
* Francis Lewis, New York delegate
saw his home plundered and his estates in what is now Harlem, completely
destroyed by British Soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great
brutality. Though she was later exchanged for two British prisoners through the
efforts of Congress, she died from the effects of her abuse.
* William Floyd, another New York
delegate, was able to escape with his wife and children across Long Island
Sound to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees without income for seven
years. When they came home they found a devastated ruin.
* Philips Livingstone had all his
great holdings in New York confiscated and his family driven out of their home.
Livingstone died in 1778 still working in Congress for the cause.
* Louis Morris, the fourth New York
delegate, saw all his timber, crops, and livestock taken. For seven years he
was barred from his home and family.
* John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey,
risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode
after him, and he escaped in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the
soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves
and woods as he was hunted across the countryside. When at long last, emaciated
by hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been
buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He died a
broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.
* Dr. John Witherspoon, signer, was
president of the College of New Jersey, later called Princeton. The British
occupied the town of Princeton, and billeted troops in the college. They
trampled and burned the finest college library in the country.
* Judge Richard Stockton, another New
Jersey delegate signer, had rushed back to his estate in an effort to evacuate
his wife and children. The family found refuge with friends, but a Tory
sympathizer betrayed them. Judge Stockton was pulled from bed in the night and
brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers. Thrown into a common jail, he was
deliberately starved. Congress finally arranged for Stockton's parole, but his
health was ruined. The judge was released as an invalid, when he could no
longer harm the British cause. He returned home to find his estate looted and
did not live to see the triumph of the revolution. His family was forced to
live off charity.
* Robert Morris, merchant prince of
Philadelphia, delegate and signer, met Washington's appeals and pleas for money
year after year. He made and raised arms and provisions which made it possible
for Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton. In the process he lost 150
ships at sea, bleeding his own fortune and credit almost dry.
* George Clymer, Pennsylvania signer,
escaped with his family from their home, but their property was completely
destroyed by the British in the Germantown and Brandywine campaigns.
* Dr. Benjamin Rush, also from
Pennsylvania, was forced to flee to Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the
army, Rush had several narrow escapes.
* John Martin, a Tory in his views
previous to the debate, lived in a strongly loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When
he came out for independence, most of his neighbors and even some of his
relatives ostracized him. He was a sensitive and troubled man, and many
believed this action killed him. When he died in 1777, his last words to his
tormentors were: "Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they
shall acknowledge it [the signing] to have been the most glorious service that
I have ever rendered to my country."
* William Ellery, Rhode Island
delegate, saw his property and home burned to the ground.
* Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina
delegate, had his health broken from privation and exposures while serving as a
company commander in the military. His doctors ordered him to seek a cure in
the West Indies and on the voyage he and his young bride were drowned at sea.
* Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton,
and Thomas Heyward, Jr., the other
three South Carolina signers, were taken by the British in the siege of
Charleston. They were carried as prisoners of war to St. Augustine, Florida,
where they were singled out for indignities. They were exchanged at the end of
the war, the British in the meantime having completely devastated their large
landholdings and estates.
* Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia,
was at the front in command of the Virginia military forces. With British
General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began
to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their
headquarters into Nelson's palatial home. While American cannonballs were making
a shambles of the town, the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson
turned in rage to the American gunners and asked, "Why do you spare my
home?" They replied, "Sir, out of respect to you." Nelson cried,
"Give me the cannon!" and fired on his magnificent home himself,
smashing it to bits. But Nelsons sacrifice was not quite over. He had raised $2
million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans
came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson's
property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few
years later at the age of 50.
Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or
hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with
brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13
children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the
victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes
completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected
or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed
so much to create is still intact.
And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham
Clark. He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary
Army. They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk afloat
in New York Harbor known as the hell ship Jersey, where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated
with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and
given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, could
anyone have blamed Abraham Clark for the King and Parliament? The utter despair
in this man's heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each and
one of us down through 200 years with the answer: "No."
The 56 signers of the Declaration Of Independence proved by their every deed
that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain
line in history. "And for the support of this Declaration with a firm
reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
My friends, I know you have a copy of the Declaration of Independence somewhere
around the house - in an old history book (newer ones may well omit it), an
encyclopedia, or one of those artificially aged "parchments" we all
got in school years ago. I suggest that each of you take the time this month to
read through the text of the declaration, one of the most noble and beautiful
political documents in human history.
There is no more profound sentence than this: "We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty,
and the pursuit of Happiness..."
These are far more than mere poetic words. The underlying ideas that infuse
every sentence of this treatise have sustained this nation for more than two
centuries. They were forged in the crucible of great sacrifice. They are living
words that spring from and satisfy the deepest cries for liberty in the human
spirit.
"Sacred honor" isn't a phrase we use much these days, but every
American life is touched by the bounty of this, the Founders' legacy. It is
freedom, tested by blood, and watered with tears.
--Rush Limbaugh
And here is something from another
website-- Useless
Knowledge
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 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 Ellery, 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. 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."
--Useless Knowledge