The Signers

In honor of the upcoming 4th of July holiday, here’s a little essay about the sacrifice paid by the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. It’s easy enough to find online, but most versions have added a paragraph or two to reflect the poster’s politics or sense of country. Having said that, most of the versions were consistent with what follows here. I’ve made a few edits for clarity and brevity—not personal politics. Authorship is unknown.

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, and another two had sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the revolutionary war.

They signed, pledging 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 or large plantation owners. All were men of means and well educated. But they signed the Declaration knowing full well what they were risking.

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 or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, 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. The owner 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 had security, but they valued liberty more.

No wonder Benjamin Franklin quipped, after putting his quill down after signing the Declaration, “we must indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall hang separately.”