We hold these truths to be self-evident...

[Beemerguy53]

Every year on this day, I make it a point to read our country's birth certificate.

When my sons were young, we read the Declaration together, and discussed it, and talked about how July 4th isn't about fireworks or barbecues or a long weekend at the beach...

To this day, when I read the last paragraph, I get choked up. When the Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of independence, those weren't empty words...they constituted one of the most powerful and heartfelt commitments in history.

Happy Independence Day!

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription | National Archives

 

[Rudi]

I'll be reading my copy tomorrow. May the Lord bless America!

 

[Golddollar]

To this day, when I read the last paragraph, I get choked up. When the Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of independence, those weren't empty words...they constituted one of the most powerful and heartfelt commitments in history.

Happy Independence Day!

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription | National Archives

When I was giving lectures about the history of voting rights to high school students years ago, I always enjoyed quoting this part of the Declaration. I wanted them to understand what it took to establish voting rights in a constitutional republic.

 

[Alk8944]

"To this day, when I read the last paragraph, I get choked up. When the Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of independence, those weren't empty words...they constituted one of the most powerful and heartfelt commitments in history."

These definitely weren't merely words to these men! By proclaiming the Declaration and signing their names to the document they were committing treason against the King in the most real sense and putting their very lives at risk by so doing!

 

[Gaëtan]

247 ans, vive l'Amérique.
Amicalement,
Gaëtan.

 

[rwsmith]

It is surprising......

Every year on this day, I make it a point to read our country's birth certificate.

When my sons were young, we read the Declaration together, and discussed it, and talked about how July 4th isn't about fireworks or barbecues or a long weekend at the beach...

To this day, when I read the last paragraph, I get choked up. When the Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of independence, those weren't empty words...they constituted one of the most powerful and heartfelt commitments in history.

Happy Independence Day!

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription | National Archives

... well, maybe not actually surprising, that so many of the Founding Fathers did sacrifice their fortunes to the cause. That's really putting your money where your mouth is.

 

[Kinman]

I pulled this off a historical piece.


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 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 or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, 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. The owner 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. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.