To have signed the Declaration of Independence was a “big deal” 250 years ago. Those men were in fact rebelling against their own government. They argued among themselves at great length if they should take this step. Some felt the timing was not right. We today speak about the cost of freedom. Consider the cost paid by just signing a piece of paper which gave us our great nation that we enjoy.
24 were lawyers, 11 were merchants, 9 were farmers, some were ministers or related to ministers. These were educated men, not mindless rabble-rousers. They put their lives and riches of the line. Five men were tortured to death. 12 had their homes burned down. Nine signers fought and died in the Revolutionary War. The sons of two also died in the war and two others were captured.
John Hart was driven from the bedside of his dying wife and their 13 children scattered. He never saw them again and he died a few weeks later from exhaustion and a broken heart. Thomas McKeam had to frequently move his family and keep them in hiding because they were so hounded by the enemy. Carter Braxton’s merchant ships were sunk, he had to sell his home to pay taxes, and he died in rags.
The real story of independence is sacrifice, devotion, and patriotism. It must continue in every generation, and whatever war. Should there be tyranny or threat to another’s freedom there is a threat to our own freedom. Our challenge is to help others understand the price of freedom, to value that price paid by someone else, and take up the costs. Should the time ever come that we need to take a stand like these brave men, may we have the same courage for freedom to ring. God help us.
Christian Writer 