TWO HUNDRED FOURTY SIX years ago, fifty-six of the wisest, bravest men in American history pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors in support of a document, knowing full well that this support could easily cost them their lives should their efforts fail. This document, penned by the great statesman Thomas Jefferson, set forth the reasons that these men, the members of the Continental Congress under then president John Hancock, felt justified their claim to independence from England. This act launched the single greatest enterprise in American history: the Revolutionary War.
We learn from the Bucklin Society that “Nine of the 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured as traitors, then died. Two had sons serving in the Revolutionary Army who died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Eight more (Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton) had their homes and buildings looted by Tories or English soldiers. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British who were trying to capture him that he was forced to move his family almost constantly from one hiding place to another. His home and possessions were taken from him, and he died in poverty. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, had his fleet of ships sunk by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in poverty.
Francis Lewis went into hiding from the English forces seeking to find and kill him as a traitor. He had his home and properties destroyed. The English jailed his wife as the wife of a traitor, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven by oncoming English army men from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. He and his 13 children fled the house for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were burned by the English. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.”
These men and women, and many others, gave all that they had to bring forth what would become the greatest nation ever known to history. They are true heroes. We owe them a debt that we can only repay by passing on to our children an understanding of our history and a love for our country that can only be surpassed by our love for God and family.
As we celebrate the Independence Day, let us think on all that we have inherited from the generations that have gone before, and make sure that we pass on a greater inheritance to those who will come after.
Happy 4th of July, everyone! God bless you, and God bless America!