Return to the Past….

03Jul09

Being close to the fourth I got a request to repost one of my fan favorites I wrote a while back so here it is….

 

“My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope.”

Herbert Hoover (1874 – 1964)

 

                Greetings once again fellow Keepers of the Faith. I was suppose to educate the masses this week on our Supreme Courts recent ruling on the 2^nd amendment (Bravo, for once they got it right, barely) but instead I received an email from a high school student who asked me just who were the signers of the Declaration of Independence? Being so close to July 4^th that question was just like I like my pitches in baseball, High and slightly outside. It appears that once again our history is being rewritten by the current regime in the NEA and claiming that the signers were Elite snobs who were trying to set up their own Monarchy to control the masses. Well at least they got the 13 original colonies right.

                The secret to teaching history is to pique the curiosity of the student to the point where they want to learn more without giving them too much information and losing their interest. So hold on fellow travelers as we take a ride.

                In 1776 there were 13 original colonies. The first Continental Congress was attempting to build a representative republic with each state having a representation in congress based on the population of that state. Pennsylvania sent nine delegates followed by Virginia with seven and Massachusetts and New Jersey each with five. Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and South Carolina each sent four delegates. Delaware, Georgia, New Hampshire, and North Carolina each sent three. Rhode Island, the smallest colony, sent only two delegates. Nine of the signers were actually born outside of the colonies but were selected by the people of their state to represent them. Of the 56 signers two were brothers and two were cousins. One signer was even an orphan.

                On the question as to where they “Old Coots?” the average age of a signer was 45 (remember that in today’s society everything appears to be relative, with myself being 48, well, there you go). Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania was the oldest at 70 and Thomas Lynch Jr. of South Carolina was the youngest at 27.

                As to their occupations 18 of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers, and 4 were doctors. 42 signers had served in their colonial legislatures and were statesmen, not politicians, well versed in the needs of their people. 22 were lawyers but William Hooper of North Carolina was “disbarred” for the high crime of “Speaking out against the Crown”. 9 of the signers were judges and Stephen Hopkins had even been Governor of Rhode Island.

                Only 2 signers had been members of the clergy.  John Witherspoon of New Jersey was the only active clergyman to attend (he wore his pontifical’s to every sessions). A look at their “Faith” backgrounds shows almost all were Protestant Christians with Charles Carroll of Maryland being the only Roman Catholic.

                Looking at their educational background, 7 of the signers were educated at Harvard, 4 each went to Yale and William & Mary, and 3 went to the College of New Jersey (you may know it now by its quaint name of Princeton). The Reverend John Witherspoon was president of Princeton and George Wythe was a professor at William & Mary. A side note and possible trivia question, “Who was one George Withes’ most famous student?”  None other than the Author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. 17 of the signers served in the military during the American Revolution. Thomas Nelson was a colonel in the Second Virginia Regiment and then commanded Virginia military forces at the Battle of Yorktown. William Whipple served with the New Hampshire militia and was one of the commanding officers in the brilliant and decisive Saratoga campaign.

                Oliver Wolcott led the Connecticut regiments that were sent to defend New York, and he led a brigade of militia that took part in the defeat of General Burgoyne. Caesar Rodney was a major general in the Delaware militia, and John Hancock was the same in the Massachusetts militia.

                What befell those military members during the revolutionary war? In total five of them were captured by the British during the war. Captains Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, and Arthur Middleton of South Carolina were all captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780. Colonel George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. Richard Stockton of New Jersey, who never recovered from his incarceration at the hands of British Loyalists, died in 1781. Colonel Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote to John Adams that he was “hunted like a fox by the enemy — compelled to remove my family five times in a few months, and at last fixed them in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna . . . and they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians.”

                What of the hardships that befell their families? Sadly Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons captured by the British during the war. John Witherspoon’s three sons fought in the war and one, a major in the New Jersey Brigade, was killed at the Battle of Germantown. Eleven signers had their homes and property destroyed. Francis Lewis’s New York home was destroyed and his wife was taken prisoner. John Hart’s farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey, and Hart died while fleeing capture. Carter Braxton and Thomas Nelson of Virginia lent large sums of their personal fortunes to support the war effort, but were never repaid.

                Fifteen of the signers went on to participate in their states’ constitutional conventions, and six,  Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, James Wilson, and George Reed later went on to sign the United States Constitution. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts attended the federal convention and, though he later supported the document, refused to sign the Constitution.

                Also after the Revolution, 13 of the signers went on to become governors, and 18 served in their state legislatures. Sixteen became state and federal judges. Seven became members of the United States House of Representatives, and six became United States Senators. James Wilson and Samuel Chase became justices of the United States Supreme Court.                

                Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Elbridge Gerry each went on to become vice president, and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson became president. Even the sons of two of the signers, John Adams and Benjamin Harrison also became president.

                Five of the signers went on to play major roles in the establishment of colleges and universities. Benjamin Franklin was a founding member for the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson helped establish the University of Virginia, Benjamin Rush started Dickinson College, Lewis Morris went to establish and serve as the first chancellor of New York University, and George Walton started the University of Georgia.

                There you go kiddies Have a fun and safe 4^th and next week I shall return to vent my spleen and finish my “Ideas you can’t discuss in Washington”.

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