Re: For the More Conservative...
Along the same lines I wonder if the founding fathers are rolling in their graves especially when you consider what they gave:<br /><br />Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the<br />Declaration of Independence?<br /><br />Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured<br />before they died.<br /><br />Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving<br />in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.<br /><br />Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the<br />Revolutionary War.<br /><br />They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their<br />sacred honor.<br /><br />What kind of men were they?<br /><br />Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were<br />farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but<br />they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the<br />penalty would be death if they were captured.<br /><br />Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships<br />swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties<br />to pay his debts, and died in rags.<br /><br />Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move<br />his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and<br />his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and<br />poverty was his reward.<br /><br />Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer,<br />Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.<br /><br />At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British<br />General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters.<br />He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was<br />destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.<br /><br />Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed<br />his wife, and she died within a few months.<br /><br />John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13<br />children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to<br />waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning<br />home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.<br /><br />Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. <br /><br />Remember: freedom is never free!<br /><br />I hope you will show your support by sending this to as many people as<br />you can, please. It's time we get the word out that PATRIOTISM is NOT a sin.
