"The Americans Who Risked Everything"
by Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr., father of Rush H. Limbaugh, III
"Our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor"
It was a glorious
morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the southeast. Up especially
early, a tall, bony, redheaded young Virginian found time to buy a new
thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also
bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home.
Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse.
The temperature was 72.5: and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that
hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The
chairs were comfortable. Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces,
but they would not be used today.
The moment the door was shut, and it was always
kept locked, the room became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that
loud quarreling voices could not be heard by passersby. Small openings
atop the windows allowed a slight stir of air, and also a large number
of horseflies. Jefferson records that "the horseflies were dexterous in
finding necks, and the silk of stocking was as nothing to them." All discussion
was punctuated by the slap of hands on necks.
On the wall at the back, facing the President's
desk, was a panoply--consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from
Fort Ticonderoga the previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had
captured the place, shouting that they were taking it "in the name of the
Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!"
Now Congress got to work, promptly taking up
an emergency measure about which there was discussion but no dissension.
"Resolved: That an application be made to the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania
for a supply of flints for the troops at New York."
Then Congress transformed itself into a committee
of the whole, The Declaration of Independence was read aloud once more,
and debate resumed. Though Jefferson was the best writer of all of them,
he had been somewhat verbose. Congress hacked the excess away. They did
a good job, as a side-by-side comparison of the rough draft and the final
text shows. They cut the phrase "by a self-assumed power." "Climb" was
replaced by "must read," then "must" was eliminated, then the whole sentence,
and soon the whole paragraph was cut. Jefferson groaned as they continued
what he later called "their depredations." "Inherent and inalienable rights"
came out "certain unalienable rights," and to this day no one knows who
suggested the elegant change.
A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost
500 words were eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of
wrangling, the document was put to a vote.
Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered:
"I am no longer a Virginian, Sir, but an American." But today the loud,
sometimes bitter argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken
from north to south by colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the
Declaration of Independence was adopted.
There were no trumpets blown. No one stood
on his chair and cheered. The afternoon was waning and Congress had no
thought of delaying the full calendar of routine business on its hands.
For several hours they worked on many other problems before adjourning
for the day.
Much to lose
What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted
the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an
act of treason against the Crown? To each of you the names 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?
I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised
at the names not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick
Henry. All were elsewhere.
Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen
were under 40; three were in their 20s. Of the 56, almost half--24--were
judges and lawyers. Eleven were merchants, 9 were land-owners and farmers,
and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians.
With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel
Adams of Massachusetts, these were men of substantial property. All but
two had families. The vast majority were men of education and standing
in their communities. They had economic security as few men had in the
18th century.
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 letter
so "that his Majesty could now read his name without glasses and could
now double the reward." Ben Franklin wryly noted: "Indeed we must all hang
together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately." Fat Benjamin
Harrison of Virginia told tiny Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: "With me
it will all be over in a minute, but you, you will be dancing on air an
hour after I am gone."
These men knew what they risked. The penalty
for treason was death by hanging. And remember: a great British fleet was
already at anchor in New York Harbor.
They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed
intellectuals or draft card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics,
yammering for an explosion. They simply asked for the status quo. It was
change they resisted. It was equality with the mother country they desired.
It was taxation with representation they sought. They were all conservatives,
yet they rebelled.
It was principle, not property, that had brought
these men to Philadelphia. Two of them became presidents of the United
States. Seven of them became state governors. One died in office as vice
president of the United States. Several would go on to be U.S. Senators.
One, the richest man in America, in 1828 founded the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. One, a delegate from Philadelphia, was the only real poet, musician
and philosopher of the signers (it was he, Francis Hopkinson--not Betsy
Ross--who designed the United States flag).
Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia,
had introduced the resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence
in June of 1776. He was prophetic is his concluding remarks:
"Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why
still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic.
Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign
of peace and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of
us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity
of the citizen to the ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted
shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find
solace, and the persecuted repose. If we are not this day wanting in our
duty, the names of the American legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity
at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear
to virtuous men and good citizens."
Though the resolution was formally adopted
July 4, it was not until July 8 that two of the states authorized their
delegates to sign, and it was not until August 2 that the signers met at
Philadelphia to actually put their names to the Declaration.
William Ellery, delegate from Rhode Island,
was curious to see the signers' faces as they committed this supreme act
of personal courage. He saw some men sign quickly, "but in no face was
he able to discern real fear." Stephen Hopkins, Ellery's colleague from
Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he signed with a shaking pen, he declared:
"My hand trembles, but my heart does not."
"Most glorious service"
Even before the list was published, the British
marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to
treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were
taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or
families near British strongholds suffered.
Francis
Lewis, New York delegate, saw his home plundered and his estates, in what
is now Harlem, completely destroyed by British soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was
captured and treated with great brutality. Though she was later exchanged
for two British prisoners through the efforts of Congress, she died from
the effects of her abuse.
William
Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape with his wife and
children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees
without income for seven years. When they came home, they found a devastated
ruin.
Phillips
Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York confiscated and his
family driven out of their home. Livingstone died in 1778 still working
in Congress for the cause.
Louis
Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber, crops, and livestock
taken. For seven years he was barred from his home and family.
John
Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home to see his
dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped in the woods.
While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked
his Homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across
the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was able
to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children
taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779, without
ever finding his family.
Dr.
John Witherspoon, signer, was president of the College of New Jersey, later
called Princeton. The British occupied the town of Princeton, and billeted
troops in the college. They trampled and burned the finest college library
in the country.
Judge Richard Stockton*,
another New Jersey delegate signer, had rushed back to
his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and children. The family found
refuge with friends, but a sympathizer betrayed them. Judge Stockton was
pulled from bed in the night and brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers.
Thrown into a common jail, he was deliberately starved. Congress finally
arranged for Stockton's parole, but his health was ruined. The judge was
released as an invalid, when he could no longer harm the British cause.
He returned home to find his estate looted and did not live to see the
triumph of the revolution. His family was forced to live off charity.
Robert
Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and signer, met 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. In the process he lost 150 ships at sea, bleeding his own fortune
and credit almost dry.
George
Clymer, Pennsylvania signer, escaped with his family from their home, but
their property was completely destroyed by the British in the Germantown
and Brandywine campaigns.
Dr.
Benjamin Rush, also from Pennsylvania, was forced to flee to Maryland.
As a heroic surgeon with the army, Rush had several narrow escapes.
John
Morton, a Tory in his views previous to the debate, lived in a strongly
loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When he came out for independence, most
of his neighbors and even some of his relatives ostracized him. He was
a sensitive and troubled man, and many believed this action killed him.
When he died in 1777, his last words to his tormentors were: "Tell them
that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it [the
signing] to have been the most glorious service that I rendered to my country."
William
Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and home burned to the
ground.
Thomas
Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his health broken from privation
and exposures while serving as a company commander in the military. His
doctors ordered him to seek a cure in the West Indies and on the voyage
He and his young bride were drowned at sea.
Edward
Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., the other three South
Carolina signers, were taken by the British in the siege of Charleston.
They were carried as prisoners of war to St. Augustine, Florida, where
they were singled out for indignities. They were exchanged at the end of
the war, the British in the meantime having completely devastated their
large land holdings and estates.
Thomas
Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of the Virginia
military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire
from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord
Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters into Nelson's palatial
home. While American cannonballs were making a shambles of the town, the
house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in rage to the
American gunners and asked, "Why do you spare my home?" They replied, "Sir,
out of respect to you." Nelson cried, "Give me the cannon!" and fired on
his magnificent home himself, smashing it to bits. But Nelson's sacrifice
was not quite over. He had raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause
by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime
Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson's property was forfeited. He
was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later at the age
of 50.
Lives, fortunes, honor
Of those 56 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 were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from
their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. 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.
And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer,
Abraham Clark.
He gave two sons to the officer 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 a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary
and given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won,
no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request
when they offered him 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 very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through 200 years
with his answer: "No."
The 56 signers of
the Declaration of Independence proved by their every deed that they made
no idle 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."
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