All 56 signers of the Declaration paid a price for their rebellion and our freedom. For a number of years, an email widely circulated with some history, some legend and some falsehoods about what happened to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. But here’s the real scoop, as I detailed in my “Official Chuck Norris Fact Book,” where I also cite the sources. At least 12 signers had their homes and property taken, ransacked, occupied or burned. Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of William Ellery, George Clymer, Lyman Hall, George Walton, Button Gwinnett, Thomas Heyward Jr., Edward Rutledge and Arthur Middleton. Robert Morris’ home was overtaken as well, and Philip Livingston lost several properties to the enemy. John Hart’s farm was looted, and he had to flee into hiding. Francis Lewis had his home and property destroyed. The enemy then jailed his wife, and she was held for months before being exchanged for wives of British soldiers. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, lost his ships and cargo to the British navy. Thomas McKean wrote to John Adams in 1777 that he was “hunted like a fox by the enemy, compelled to [move] my family five times in three months.” Five signers were captured by the British as prisoners of war and had to endure deplorable conditions as such. One signer lost his son in the Revolutionary Army, and another had two sons captured. On Nov. 30, 1776, one signer, Richard Stockton, a lawyer from Princeton and longtime friend of George Washington, was captured in the middle of the night by loyalists and jailed by the British. Stockton endured weeks and months of brutal treatment and starvation. When he was finally released, his health would never be the same. (Over the six years of war, more than 12,000 prisoners died in prisons compared to 4,435 soldiers who died in combat.) And that’s just a sampling of what these men sacrificed, and why we honor what they did for us annually on Independence Day. Happy birthday, America! Let’s never forget the price our founders paid for our freedom. Read more at wnd/2013/06/12-little-known-facts-about-declaration-of-independence-2/#m01IlQh8cKZfmvHX.99
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 22:28:33 +0000
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