I want to wish you all a Happy Fourth of July, and I hope that you all celebrate our nations liberty with passion and possibly some reflection.
Please remember the Americans who risked everything, “…our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor…”

What kind of men were the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the Crown?
To each of you the names of Franklin, Adams, Hancock, and Jefferson are almost as familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened to them? Many may be somewhat surprised at the names that names not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were elsewhere.
Ben Franklin was the only really old man. 18 were under 40, 3 were in their 20’s. Of the 56, almost half -24- were judges and lawyers. 11 were merchants, 9 were land owners and farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians.

Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it. John Hancock, one of the richest men in America, already had a price of 500 pounds on his head. He signed in enormous letters so “that his majesty could now read his name without glasses and could now double the reward.” Ben Franklin also noted : “Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately.”
These men knew what they risked, the penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember, the British fleet was already at anchor in New York harbor.


Though the resolution was formally adopted July 4th, it was not until July 8th that 2 statesmen authorized their delegates to sign, and it was not until August 2nd that the signers met in Philadelphia to actually put their names to the Declaration. Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason.

Francis Lewis saw his home plundered and his estates completely destroyed by British soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and brutalized then later exchanged for two British prisoners. She died from the effects of her abuse.

William Floyd escaped with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where they lived as refuges without income for seven years. When they went home they found a devastated ruin.

Phillips Livingstone had all his holdings in New York confiscated and his family driven out of their home.

Louis Morris saw all his timber, crops, and livestock taken. For seven years he was barred from his home and family.

John Hart risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him , and he escaped into the woods. As his lay on her deathbed soldiers returned and ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart survived in caves and woods as he was hunted, then finally was able to sneak home to find his wife had already been buried and his 13 children taken away. He died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.

Dr. Witherspoon, as he was president of the College of New Jersey( later called Princeton), saw the British occupy the town of Princeton and burn the first college library in the country.

Judge Richard Stockton had rushed back to his estate to evacuate his family. They found refuge with friends, but a sympathizer betrayed them. He was pulled from his bed, beaten, then thrown into jail and deliberately starved. Congress finally arranged for his parole, but his health was ruined. He was released an invalid, and was returned home to find his estate looted and did not live to see the triumph of revolution. His family was forced to live off charity.

Robert Morris met General Washington’s appeals and pleas for money year after year. He made and raised arms and provisions which made it possible for Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton. He lost 150 ships at sea , bleeding his own fortune and credit dry.

Thomas Lynch and his young bride were drowned at sea. George Clymer, Dr. Benjamin Rush, and John Morton were ostracized by neighbors and relatives.

Thomas Nelson was at the front in command of the Virginia military forces, and as British General Cornwallis was under fire from 70 American guns destroying Yorktown he and his staff moved into the palatial home of Nelson. While American cannonballs were making shambles of the town , Governor Nelsons home was untouched. Nelson turned in rage to the American gunners and asked,” Why do you spare my home?” . they replied , “Out of respect for you.”
Nelson took the cannon himself and fired on his home smashing it to bits. He had raised over $2million for the Revolutionary cause pledging his own estates. When his loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and his property forfeited. He was never reimbursed, and died in poverty a few years later at the age of 50.

Of the 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence 9 died of their wounds during the war, 5 were captured and imprisoned with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost 13 children. 2 wives were brutally treated. All were at one time driven from their homes and victims of manhunts. 12 watched their homes burned , 17 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.

Finally there is New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark. He gave two sons to the officers corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to the infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York harbor known as the hell ship “Jersey” where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with special brutality because of their father. One put in solitary and given no food. With the end in sight, the war almost won, no one could have blamed Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered his sons lives if he would recant and come out for the King and parliament. The utter despair in this man’s heart, the anguish in his soul, must touch all of us down through 200 years with his answer.”NO”.

The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence proved by their deeds that they made no boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain line in history. “ And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

I finish this with dampened eyes, it is hard to type. Please try to pass these things along to our younger ones with us, with a hope to understand that common men like us can achieve more than we at times think we are capable of. To persevere, to fight for what is right, to hold true and fast to the values ingrained in each one of us as Americans.

God bless the United States of America