the price of freedom ...

Five signers of the Declaration of Independence were
captured by the British as traitors, and tortured
before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army;
another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships
of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes,
and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.

Eleven were merchants,

Nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of
means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration
of Independence knowing fullwell that the penalty would
be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader,
saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy.
He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and
died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was
forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in
the Congress without pay, and his family kept in hiding.
His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his
reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall,
Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that
the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson
home as headquarters. He quietly urged General Washington
to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died
bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The
enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was
dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields
and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year
he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his
wife dead and his children vanished.

- America was never meant to be about money.
- America is supposed to be about People.

Some of us take our liberties so much for granted, but
we should not - not ever, lest we lose them.

Freedom is very precious and if we do not protect it,
we WILL lose it. We will lose our freedom.

So take a few minutes while enjoying your Fourth of July
holiday and silently thank these patriots. Not much to
ask of you for the price they paid.

It is never too late get the word out that patriotism is
NOT uncool, and the Fourth of July has more to it than
beer, picnics, and baseball games.

How soon we forget.