Today is the 244th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I know many of you are familiar with the part of this document that reads:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
But how many of you are familiar with the last sentence in the Declaration of Independence? It reads:
“And for the the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” (Emphasis added)
Below this were the signatures of the the signers of the Declaration. The 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence are:
GEORGIA
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
NORTH CAROLINA
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
SOUTH CAROLINA
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
MASSACHUSETTS
John Hancock
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
MARYLAND
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carrol of Carrolton
VIRGINIA
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
PENNSYLVANIA
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
DELAWARE
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
NEW YORK
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
NEW JERSEY
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Matthew Thornton
RHODE ISLAND
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
CONNECTICUT
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
These men knew, that by signing the Declaration, they were also signing their death warrants. They knew that the British would consider them traitors and would execute them if captured, and yet they signed it anyway.
Such was the price these men were willing to pay so that we may celebrate the freedom that they helped give us every Fourth of July. I wonder how many of us living today would have been willing to pay such a high price for freedom.
Based upon what I’ve seen in the news lately, not very many.
