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 serving 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.   
                       
So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and  
silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price    
they paid.                              
                                                                           
Remember: freedom is never free!

Did you know...

America was founded as a Democratic Republic, not a Democracy?

Seldom in our great Republic do you hear politicians, both foreign and domestic, the media, or even in public schools referring to America as a Republic, they call America a "Democracy," or they call our constitutional government a "Democratic form of government".
Our Founder's feared a pure Democracy, one person one vote, or the pooling of the ignorant masses that are easily lead by charismatic leaders. The Founder's had profound knowledge, and of course, experience, regarding all other forms government that preceded America's form of government. They fought hard in the Constitutional Convention to insure their convention did not produce a pure Democracy.
They wanted our U.S. Senators to be appointed to office by our state legislators, not elected by popular vote of the people (17^th amendment). In that way "we the people" had more control of our representatives in Washington D.C., it was that ideology, plus the Electoral College that insured our Republic.
Many modern- day scholars not only believe in repealing the 17^th amendment to have our Senators appointed by knowledgeable and seasoned members of our state legislatures, but the Senators pay should come from the states, not the federal government.
As one gets to know the basic belief's our founder's they would realize our Founder's would have rejected the 17^th amendment which was ratified April 8, 1913 and to this day perverted our founder's original intent, as well as the 16^th, 14^th and 25th amendments.
James Madison said "Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would at the same time be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions and their passions."
Our American Founder's only wanted the federal government to have 20 enumerated powers...
In 1776, the states had refused to delegate enough authority to Congress to enable it to perform its legitimate functions. As a result they almost lost the Revolutionary War.
In our day, "we the people" have allowed our federal government to become bloated and out of control. We treat our President as if he was our "King" and not ruled by the checks and balances our Founder's intended.
Our freedoms are disappearing at a rapid rate, our once prized private enterprise system is being taken over by governments at all levels. Governments at all levels are competing with private enterprise and have become a monopoly, which is destroying the people's incentive to compete. They are being taxed and over regulated to death, as well as "we the people."
Our international relations have also suffered due to those in power not honoring the original intent of our Founder's. Our monetary system is broken causing America to become a debtor nation and we the people to become impoverished and enslaved by our own government. The huge list of abuses goes on. To quote out of the Declaration of Independence: "He (referring to King George the III) has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their existence."  
The "original intent" of our Founder's was to limit the size and power of the federal government. Section 8 of the United States Constitution explains those 20 duties or powers.

The Urgent Need for More George Washingtons

As we move into a New Year there seems to be some similarities between our situation today and that of the transition from 1776 into 1777.
Near the end of the year 1776, the thirteen colonies had begun to form a very loose confederation. The war against the tyrannical King George III was not going very well. The disastrous defeat at New York had forced Washington and his army to retreat into a position that the British generals had all but declared victory. It looked rather hopeless to many people that real freedom would ever be possible.

“I Will Not…Despair”

In addition to the tragic loss of New York which forced the American army to retreat down the full length of New Jersey, there was the fall of Fort Washington and Fort Lee, the fearsome advances of the British, the plotting of Washington's Generals Lee and Reed against him and the overwhelming reality that the enlistments were up for more than two thousand of his fifty-four hundred troops. Still Washington wrote, “I will not…despair.”
Amidst all this discouragement, one of the men present during the New Jersey retreat, a fiery young patriot named Thomas Paine, sat by the campfire for light and using a drumhead for support, penned the familiar passage that Washington later used to try to energize his troops:

“These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph....Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

Washington knew that freedom-loving Americans needed a victory, even a small victory, to prove that, in spite of all the defeats, it is still possible to win against overwhelming odds.

A Much-Needed Victory at Trenton

As small as it was, Washington 's victory over the British-hired Hessian troops at Trenton had a much greater meaning. It showed that, indeed, the forces of freedom can win, and little by little, begin to chip away at the powerful forces of soul-destroying tyranny. Of the Trenton battle Parry and Allison wrote:
“It was a glorious and almost unbelievable victory for the beleaguered American commander and his troops. Nearly 1,000 Hessians were taken captive; another 115 were killed or wounded. Four Americans had been wounded, but not a single one was lost in battle—although in the fierce night before, two had tragically frozen to death.
“‘The enemy have fled before us in the greatest panic that ever was known,' one of the patriot soldiers wrote after the victory. ‘Never were men in higher spirits than our whole army is.'”
Could it be compared to the small but significant victories in our day seen at the November 2, 2010 elections?

Washington Not Lulled into False Sense of Security

In the wake of the Trenton and Princeton victories, many Americans began to proclaim high praise for General Washington. His brother-in-law, Bartholomew Dandridge, seemed to echo the feelings of many when he wrote to Washington saying: "It is plain [that] Providence designed you as the favorite instrument in working out the salvation of America . It is you alone that can defend us....I am sure you have no idea of your real value to us."
An article in the Pennsylvania Journal, published about six weeks after the victory at Princeton, described Washington in glowing terms:

“In his public character he commands universal respect and admiration. Conscious that the principles on which he acts are indeed founded on virtue, he steadily and coolly pursues those principles, with a mind neither depressed by disappointments nor elated by success, giving full exercise to that discretion and wisdom which he so eminently possesses. He retreats like a general and acts like a hero. If there are spots in his character, they are like the spots in the sun, only discernible by the magnifying powers of a telescope.”

Washington was indeed beginning to be viewed as a hero in the eyes of many. His countrymen had been given a closer look at the capabilities of their commanding general, and they liked what they saw.
Surprisingly, Washington did not react favorably to this rising tide of popularity and praise. "Everybody seems to be lulled into ease and security," he wrote. They needed to be shocked into the possibility of a potential disaster: "I think we are now in one of the most critical periods which America ever saw."

Washington Foresees Need for
Spiritual Preparation for Coming Battles

As the American army was emerging from the difficult winter encampment at Morristown , and in preparation for the coming battles of the New Year 1777, General Washington issued strict orders to ensure that his troops were preparing themselves spiritually for the coming difficulties. "All chaplains are to perform divine service...every...Sunday," he declared, and he ordered "officers of all ranks" to set an example by attending. "The commander in chief expects an exact compliance with this order, and that it be observed in the future as an invariable rule of practice. And every neglect will be considered not only as a breach of orders, but a disregard to decency, virtue, and religion."
He had already issued a general order stating. “The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor so to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.”

Washington Not Deterred by “Ignominious Epithets”

Washington 's stirring challenge in his day is ever so applicable in our own day as we face criticism and derision from similar foes. Said he:

“Let it never be said that in a day of action you turned your backs on the foe. Let the enemy no longer triumph. They brand you with ignominious epithets. Will you patiently endure that reproach? Will you suffer the wounds given to your country to go unrevenged? Will you resign your parents, wives, children, and friends to be the wretched vassals of a proud, insulting foe? And your own necks to the halter?...Nothing, then, remains but nobly to contend for all that is dear to us. Every motive that can touch the human breast calls us to the most vigorous exertions. Our dearest rights, our dearest friends, and our own lives, honor, glory, and even shame urge us to fight. And my fellow soldiers, when an opportunity presents, be firm, be brave. Show yourselves men, and the victory is yours.”

Washington had a strong conviction of the
influence of God in guiding America 's destiny

It is, no doubt, the desire of freedom-loving Americans today to have national leaders that could bear the same testimony about America that Washington did:

“We may, with a kind of pious and grateful exultation, trace the fingers of Providence through those dark and mysterious events which first induced the states to appoint a general convention, and then led them one after another...into an adoption of the system recommended by that general convention, thereby, in all human probability, laying a lasting foundation for tranquility and happiness, when we had but too much reason to fear that confusion and misery were coming rapidly upon us. That the same good Providence may still continue to protect us, and prevent us from dashing the cup of national felicity just as it has been lifted to our lips, is [my] earnest prayer.”

Washington had an intense desire to teach the science of government to our youth and to not dilute America 's greatness in their minds with teachings from foreign lands

Multiculturalism in education and the thought that America is just one of many good systems from which one may choose to live under, had no place in Washington's philosophy:

“A primary object...should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? and what duty more pressing on its legislature than to patronize a plan for communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?”
“It has always been a source of serious regret with me to see the youth of these United States sent to foreign countries for the purpose of education, often before their minds were formed or they had imbibed any adequate ideas of the happiness of their own, contracting, too frequently, not only habits of dissipation and extravagance, but principles unfriendly to republican government and to the true and genuine liberties of mankind, which thereafter are rarely overcome.”

Washington felt America must remain
the great neutral nation of the earth

“I hope the United States of America will be able to keep disengaged from the labyrinth of European politics and wars....It should be the policy of united America to administer to [other nations'] wants without being engaged in their quarrels.
“My ardent desire is, and my aim has been (as far as depended upon the executive department), to comply strictly with all our engagements, foreign and domestic, but to keep the United States free from political connections with every other country; to see that they may be independent of all and under the influence of none
“I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation had a right to intermeddle in the internal concerns of another;… and that if this country could, consistently with its engagements, maintain a strict neutrality and thereby preserve peace, it was bound to do so by motives of policy.

Washington felt that morality and religion were
inseparable and indispensable supports to our Republic.

Our first president dispels the modern myth that one can be a moral person without religion. Religion is necessary to give morality a standard. And be careful, he said, when someone with advanced educational degrees claims that religion is not necessary for morality or freedom. He would label such modern philosophies as deceptive and false:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.... Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education ... reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

Upon hearing of the death of Washington , Thomas Jefferson quoted the scripture, “verily, a great man hath fallen this day in Israel .” But Jefferson was not without hope that the Creator would provide others to come to maintain what his friend George Washington was so instrumental in starting. Said he: “And indeed, it would have been inconsistent in creation to have formed man for the social state, and not to have provided virtue and wisdom enough to manage the concerns of the society.”
Should we not this New Year resolve to make an intensive effort to teach, identify and support those who have the same values and character as our great Founding Father, George Washington?
 
Earl Taylor, Jr.