William Paca - Maryland, Josiah Barlett - New Hampshire, Ceasar Rodney - Delaware, and Francis Hopkinson - New Jersey were just a few of the brave men we find who "pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor" to a Declaration of Independence from the oppression, taxation and the depravation of their mother country.
Most of us remember the names of John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson or John Adams, but there are 56 names that appear on the Declaration of Independence. We often forget that these men signed this document knowing the price they might have to pay. The British fleet was already anchored in New York harbor, John Hancock had a bounty of $500 on his head and Franklin stated clearly, "Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately." In most cases these were men of substantial means who understood the declaration to pledge their lives, fortunes and sacred honor were more than glowing words on fresh parchment - they were a pledge to die for their country, their freedom and their colonies.
What was the price these men paid for freedom from tyranny? Richard Morris a merchant from Philadelphia met General Washington's needs over and over depleting his personal fortune and losing a 150 merchant ships at sea in funding the revolution. William Ellery saw his home and property burned to the ground. Thomas Nelson ordered the revolutionary armies to fire on his own home and plantation to drive Cornwallis' headquarters from his estate. When he raised and pledged 2 million dollars to the cause, the newly formed government defaulted on his loans and he forfieted his personal wealth and died impoverished at age 50.
Of those 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All at one time or another were the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned to the ground. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create, is still intact.
The question for us today is - what price do we put on our freedom? What sacrifices will we make to defend our country and our sacred honor? Do we have the courage, the resolve, that sense of sacred honor essential in defending our freedom. I believe those words penned centuries ago are relevant to us today, "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it"
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