Re: THE 4TH OF JULY

Re: THE 4TH OF JULY
We all seem to get this email or similar to pass around this time of
the year.No one has ever taken the time to verify or dispute the
claims.
This year I got one with an interesting rebuttal on the essay by
someone who obviously did some homework.

I present it here not as true or false, but for you to review and to
think about. Just looking for Truth for truth's sake and the sake of
honest history.

THE PRICE THEY PAID


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 the hardships

of the Revolutionary War.



They signed and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their

sacred honor.



What kind of men where 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 his 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 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 grist mill 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 are 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 the firm reliance

on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually

pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our

sacred honor."





Is it no wonder then, that Samuel Adams said:



"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility

of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom,

go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or

arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May

your chain be set lightly upon you and may posterity

forget ye were our countrymen."



......what then, is freedom worth to you? And....what will you

do to pay back the debt we owe to those who sacrificed their

lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor?



Did they die in vain, or in Honor? That decision rests in

our actions, as to what we do with this precious gift known

as the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.