Oil paintings that glamorize the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, can do much for your sense of patriotism, even to this day, but they can also soften the gravity of what those men did by signing that piece of parchment and the risks they took.
To comprehend that, it may take getting past the melodramatic Hollywood depictions of the Founding Fathers. It takes knowing that they were real men with families, houses, land, jobs, and bodies that were just as vulnerable to a bullet or a bayonet as yours and mine. And still, each signed his name – not a pseudonym – fully aware this could mean a death sentence. This was treason.
Every man who signed the Declaration of Independence knew that if this revolution didn’t work out, the most powerful army in the world was going to track him down, humiliate him and his family, and make him suffer before ultimately hanging him or shooting him by firing squad. Still, they signed. They put their own lives and the lives of their families in the hands of a hodgepodge of young boys and farmers they didn’t even know, who would join George Washington’s Continental Army or form colonial militias and a fighting force that was at first laughable to the smartly trained and equipped red coats who fought for the British Empire.
Not that long ago, I wondered about those men who signed and if any of them paid the ultimate price. While this list is not exhaustive, I think it’s worth exploring a handful of these stories to better understand the price some of the signatories paid just so that I can write these words, and you can read them, without a British overseer reviewing and censoring them first.
None of the signatories of the Declaration were killed during the war that followed, but a few suffered immense loss. The British captured five signers and imprisoned them under severe conditions. They set fire to the homes of several. Some of the signers lost their entire fortunes in support of the war effort. And four to six signatories lost wives or children during the war.
Consider the story of Francis Lewis of New York. Soon after the signing of the Declaration, the British won the Battle of Brooklyn. Around that time, they attacked and ransacked Lewis’s home in Queens. The British arrested his wife, Elizabeth Annesley Lewis. They locked her up and held her in terrible conditions. Eventually, she was part of a prisoner exchange, but her imprisonment destroyed her health and her spirit, and she died in 1779.
Francis Lewis served in Congress until that same year. With his son, he was able to rebuild his mercantile business. He died in his old age, surrounded by his family, in 1802.
John Hart of New Jersey lost his wife to an unspecified illness in October of 1776. Right after signing the Declaration as part of the Second Continental Congress, Hart was forced to flee British troops. While he was busy carrying out his duties as a member of the General Assembly, he was able to return home to be with his wife, Deborah, when she died. By December, he found himself hiding in the woods, in caves, and in the Sourwood mountains to evade capture by the British. After the winter battles of Trenton and Princeton, Hart was able to return to his home, which by that point was looted and ruined. He had to start over.
Undeterred, he served two terms as Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, ending on Nov. 7, 1778. In June of that year, Hart had arranged for the colonial army to set up camp on his land. Roughly 12,000 troops camped on the land, which had plenty of cool water and food. Rested and refreshed, George Washington’s army was able to win the Battle of Monmouth.
Hart didn’t live much longer. At 66, he died of kidney stones on Tuesday, May 11, 1779, owing money as a result of funding the war effort. His property was sold for next to nothing to help pay off his debts. The war had depleted all his wealth.
Another New Jerseyan had some troubles of his own. Richard Stockton had been a leader in New Jersey state government and a favorite of the King of England. He served as a justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court. But as the king continued to take away freedoms from the colonies, Stockton took a side, and as a member of the Continental Congress, he signed the Declaration.
Not long after that, neighbors who were loyal to the crown invaded his home at night, dragged him from his bed, and looted his property. They kidnapped Stockton and turned him over to the British, who sent him to one of the most brutal prisons in the country in the dead of winter. His health declined rapidly, and almost everything he had owned was lost.
The British eventually released him from prison but the damage was done, and Stockton was never healthy again. He died in February 1781.
Virginian Thomas Nelson Jr., replaced Patrick Henry, who had just been elected Governor of Virginia, in the Second Continental Congress in 1776. Nelson also lost his health and his money due to the war effort. Eventually, he’d be elected governor of Virginia, succeeding Thomas Jefferson.
By 1781 and the Battle of Yorktown, Nelson was no longer in the Assembly. His wife and 11 children were forced to flee Yorktown during the siege. The war had destroyed his fortune. He died a relatively young man with asthma in 1789 at 50 years old.
The story of Abraham Clark of New Jersey is one of a father’s worst nightmares. Two of his sons were captured and held on British prison ships under horrific conditions. They both lived, but barely.
Clark was a member and secretary of the New Jersey Council of Safety and was active with the Revolutionary conventions. Prior to his signing of the Declaration, he was already in poor health. Still, he remained in Congress for the duration of the war with the British, which put his property at risk, since it was close to British-occupied territories. Against this backdrop, the British army captured two of his sons, who were colonial soldiers, and kept them on a prison ship called “Jersey.” On that boat, hundreds of prisoners died due to harsh conditions and brutal treatment. The boys were later released from captivity, but they bore the scars for many years after that.
After the war, Clark continued to serve in government in many capacities, a staunch advocate for the inclusion of a Bill of Rights within the Constitution. He died of sunstroke in 1794 at the age of 68.
Recommended: They Tried to Guilt Trip Us Over the East Wing. Conservatives’ Responses Are Delicious.
Another New Jerseyan named John Witherspoon was not as fortunate as Clark. He was famous for something he said on July 2, 1776. Another delegate to the Convention spoke out against moving forward, saying, “We are not ripe for revolution.” Witherspoon responded, “Not ripe, sir? We are not only ripe for the measure but in danger of rotting for the want of it.”
Once the war came to New Jersey, he closed the College of New Jersey, where he kept his books and papers. The British army invaded and ransacked the library, burning Witherspoon’s things. One year later, Witherspoon lost his son, James, who fought in the Battle of Germantown, Pa.
He remained in the Continental Congress until 1782, and he remained active as a leader in New Jersey government. Witherspoon was heavily involved in the formation of an independent and national Presbyterian Church in America. He was a pastor, a teacher, and a patriot, and is also remembered as one of the most influential presidents of Princeton.
These men who signed the Declaration of Independence lived their lives undaunted by the impossible challenges that lay before them. They lost family, they lost wealth, and some lost most, if not all, of their land and possessions. Some lost their health during the war and never regained it. Many did not live very long by today’s standards, and yet they accomplished so much. But perhaps most importantly, it’s not what they did, but it’s what they stood for.
It's all in writing, of course, and we refer to these documents every day, now more than ever. But it’s important to also remember there is more than ink on that parchment; there is also the blood, sweat, and tears of those men who signed it.
