How many of us remember how the BOSTON TEA PARTY, see WEB site;
>http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/MilSci/BTSI/abs_bostea.html<
lead to the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE of the Thirteen Colonies?
For events leading to:
>http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/declara2.html<
The document itself:
>http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html <
It was more than TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
For more events leading up to the REVOLUTIONARY WAR go to:
>http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/timeline.html< (Note: this is a well done Page)
For more information on the CONSTITUTIONS FOUNDING FATHERS :
The first article deals with the location and those attending, go to:
>http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/confath.html< the
second article
goes into detail about the people involved, their ideas and the
drafting, go to :
>http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/conhist.html<
For full detailed COPY OF THE CONSTITUTION go to:
>http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/constitution.html< or to:
>http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconst.html<
For information on the original and ammended BILL OF RIGHTS go to:
>http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/billrights/billmain.html<
There are a number of WEB pages that tell of what happened to many of
the
56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence but among the best I
think is
one by Gary Hildreth at :
>http://www-douzzer.ai.mit.edu:8080/declarers.html<
I put a copy of his page on this page following this article.
So as we get ready for a day celebrating whether it is a vacation,
picnic,
ball game or whatever let us take just a moment to remember that it was
not
many years ago when 56 men signed their names on a piece of paper
called the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and pledged their lives, fortunes
and sacred honor
and in many cases lost all they had that we might have many of the
freedoms we
have today.
THINK ABOUT IT AND HAVE A GREAT FOURTH OF JULY 1998
********************
THE FATE OF THE SIGNATORIES
>http://www-douzzer.ai.mit.edu:8080/declarers.html<
by Gary Hildreth
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
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 Dillery, 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."
They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't just fight the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Perhaps you can now see why our founding fathers had a hatred for standing armies, and allowed through the Second Amendment for everyone to be armed.
Frankly, I can't read this without crying. Some of us take these liberties so much for granted...We shouldn't.