Sacred Honor

"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 degrees
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 stockings was nothing to them." All discussing 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, nine were landowners 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 letters 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
US 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 in 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 repost.

"If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American Legislatures
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." Stephan 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.

· Philips 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 Tory 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 Martin, 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 have ever 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 landholdings 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 that 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."