This was in easier times...

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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, Gwinett, 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 to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall and straight, and unwavering, they pledged: For the support of the declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. 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.

How come a guy can waltz in and land the high-paying job without a degree, yet the woman has to have the proof of degree in hand, the multiple references (which with us are ALWAYS checked--men hardly ever), and the johnny-on-the-spot answers to such stupid-ass questions as, "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" ...all for a job (whether it's this field or whatever) with crappy benefits and crappy pay and even crappier treatment when you want time to also do the most noble thing of all and be a mother.

When we lived in the city, we let both of our cats out on leashes but they wore harnesses, mainly so they couldn't slip loose. They did start out as kittens with them though, not as adult cats. They would hear me jingle their leashes and harnesses and come RUNNING to be tied outside to the little backyard there. They absolutely loved it and the worst that would happen is they would get tangled to each other and around a bush. I was always around to supervise though...usually enjoying morning coffee out on the back deck listening to the thumping cars and sirened-vehicles drive by. Man do I miss the city--NOT!

luckily everything went well all 3 times. My best friend wasn't so lucky and miscarried soon after telling people.

to mention that his father never contributed any money, not a penny? Since you keep repeating it, it must be very significant in your mind. His father never contributed a penny to raising him. Now there is a rift between you and your son because of money. Anybody else out there think these two points are more connected than they may appear to be on the surface?