Hero or Martyr?
Our gratitude is deepened when we remember the price others paid to help obtain freedom. In the United States, one such person was Richard Stockton. Stockton was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was a prominent lawyer and a wealthy landowner. Because he supported the war efforts, he and his family were driven from their home. That home was sacked and burned. Stockton was imprisoned for several years and subjected to harsh treatment that broke his health. He died a pauper at the age of 51. Yet few Americans remember this hero who paid such a high price for the cause of liberty. His sacrifice is largely forgotten.
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As it is with most Heroes
In fact.....most of the signers suffered for their disobedience to the crown....."the crown didn’t take this act of rebellion lightly, but considered it a blatant act of treason by the signers, who then were systematically dealt with accordingly in any way the enemy could, including the penalty of death if captured. Signers ended up sacrificing lives, families, fortunes and homes.
Various historical accounts show that five of those 56 brave souls were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.
Another nine Declaration signers later would succumb to wounds, disease or other causes in the Revolutionary War. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned, while two lost sons in the war and another two had sons captured.
Francis Lewis, one of the signers from New York, had his home and properties destroyed and the British jailed his wife, who died soon thereafter.
After he inked the Declaration of Independence, New Jersey’s John Hart had to flee from his wife’s deathbed and their 13 children were driven away. Hart lived in caves and woods for more than a year, returning to find his fields and gristmill in ruin and his family gone. Within weeks, he would be dead from exhaustion and grief.
Soldiers or looters also scavenged the homeplaces of three of the four Declaration signers from South Carolina — Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton and Thomas Heyward Jr. — and five others suffered a similar fate.
Wealthy Virginia planter and trader Carter Braxton had his ships devastated by the British Navy and died in rags after being forced to sell off his properties to pay his debts.
Thomas McKean of Delaware also was relegated to a life of poverty after his possessions were taken from him, and his family constantly was on the run from the enemy. So great was McKean’s conviction to independence that he served in Congress without pay.
Signers’ hardships lasted right until the end of the bloody conflict. After Cornwallis, the British general, occupied the home of Thomas Nelson Jr. as his headquarters during the Battle of Yorktown, Nelson urged Gen. George Washington to fire at the structure. It was destroyed, and though the Revolution had been won, Nelson would die broke.
These men were not just a bunch of hoodlums or rabble-rousers, but merchants, farmers, lawyers and other leaders in their respective communities. And a quick count of all those who suffered horrible tragedies show that a good percentage of the signers saw their once-comfortable lives ruined to some extent as a result of their desire for liberty.
So here we are 233 years later, waving the flags and enjoying the freedom that our Founding Fathers gave us through their blood and tears and sacrifices." (Mount Airy News)
http://www.mtairynews.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Many+Declaration+Signers+Paid+Dearly+For+Their+cause%20&id=2883882-Many+Declaration+Signers+Paid+Dearly+For+Their+cause&instance=secondary_opinion_left_column
I like that
Nice Post!