Thread by @KweenJosie

This is probably the most important thread I will ever do (9/11 rescue dogs, aside.)

I want to tell you about what happened to the 56 signers of The Declaration of Independence.

Freedom does not come free. It is pivotal as we devolve into tyranny that we know what that means.

The Continental Congress, approved the final wording of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. 56 men signed it.

Signing the declaration was a sacrifice involving risk. Sometimes those who sacrifice never regain what they gave up. Some don’t see the results that later generations see, enjoy or experience. And the risk might include the ultimate sacrifice – giving one’s life for the cause.

• Five of those 56 Declaration signers were captured by the British and tortured as traitors.

• Four of the 56 Declaration signers lost their sons in the Continental Army or had sons who were captured.

• Nine of the 56 Declaration signers fought and died in the American Revolution.

• 12 of the 56 Declaration signers had their homes looted and destroyed.

Carter Braxton of Virginia was a prosperous planner and trader. His ships were destroyed by the British Navy. He lost his home to pay off the debts and died in poverty.

Thomas McKean of Delaware was harassed mercilessly. His family went into hiding during the war, moving multiple times. He served in Congress without pay and died in poverty.

• Thomas Nelson JR. of Virginia put his own home up as collateral to raise $2 million for the French allies. The struggling French government was unable to pay back the loans and Nelson’s entire estate was wiped out.

Frances Hopkinsof New Jersey and William Floyd of New York both had their homes confiscated and used as housing by the British.

• Frances Lewis of New York had his wife imprisoned by the British where she died. He also lost his home and everything in it.

John Hart had to leave his dying wife’s bedside to flee the British. For more than a year, he lived in caves and forests. He returned home to find his wife dead, his 13 children missing & of his property gone. He died shortly after of physical & mental exhaustion & a broken heart

Lewis Morris and Phillip Livingston died of similar circumstances to Hart’s. Too sad and exhausted to carry on.

Many were bountied, including John Hancock, who was famously insulted by the “low” price on his head.

• Declaration signer Richard Stockton, a New Jersey State Supreme Court Justice, returned to his Princeton estate to find that his wife and children were living like refugees after he was betrayed by a Tory sympathizer. British troops captured and tortured him with starvation.

When Stockton was finally released, he went home to find his estate had been looted and burned. He had been so badly beaten in prison that he died before the war’s end. His surviving family lived the rest of their lives off charity.

• At the Battle of Yorktown on the York River in Virginia, Thomas Nelson, Jr.’s home had been overrun by British Gen. Charles Cornwallis, who had taken over the his home for headquarters. Nelson urged Gen. George Washington to open fire on his own home.

Washington agreed. This was done, and Nelson’s home was destroyed. Cornwallis later surrendered the British forces at Yorktown in 1781, ending the fighting in the American Revolution.

Nelson, one of the brave and noble 56 signers, died bankrupt some years later.

The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence came from various walks of life. Most were considered well-educated for the time. The 56 included lawyers, store merchants, farmers, teachers, one surveyor (Abraham Clark) and of course one multifaceted genius (Ben Franklin).

Each of them knew the risks that being caught by the British or exposed by a traitor carried. Still, they signed that beautiful document. Still they persisted.

And because of these brave men, many whose names are nearly lost to history, The Declaration of Independence, along with the U.S. Constitution, set the foundation for the greatest nation on earth.

Up until the American experiment, every single ruling class was some kind of dictatorship. But because of those 56 signers, who believed so deeply in freedom, self ownership & a Republican form of government, we had an explosion of innovation, creativity, success, and prosperity.

While I can look at evidence and history and make a qualified logical hypothesis on where the next year, 2 years, of 10 years will take us, we can’t know for sure. But I do know that while America the institution is dying, America the idea still exists in all of us.

And she’s still worth it.

Thanks for reading.