![]() ![]() His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward. ![]() He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.Ĭarter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners men of means, well educated. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? What fates befell them for daring to put their names to that document?įive signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. Through multiple versions of pieces like the one quoted below, their lives have been repeatedly embellished with layers of fanciful fiction to make for a better story: The Revolution in this romantic rendering became one magical moment of inspiration, leading inexorably to the foregone conclusion of American independence.Įvidently Adams was right: So great is our need for simplified, dramatic events and heroes that even the real-life biographies of the fifty-six men who risked their lives to publicly declare American independence are no longer compelling enough. Jefferson's drafting of the Declaration of Independence was a perfect example of such dramatic distortions. Ellis noted, they (particularly Adams, whom history would not treat nearly as kindly as Jefferson) were keenly aware of the "distinction between history as experienced and history as remembered":Īdams realized that the act of transforming the American Revolution into history placed a premium on selecting events and heroes that fit neatly into a dramatic formula, thereby distorting the more tangled and incoherent experience that participants actually making the history felt at the time. One of the purposes behind their exchange of letters was to set the record straight regarding the events of the American Revolution, for as author Joseph J. In the waning years of their lengthy lives, former presidents (and Founding Fathers) John Adams and Thomas Jefferson reconciled the political differences that had separated them for many years and carried on a voluminous correspondence. ![]()
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