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The High Price of Freedom
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who dared to sign the Declaration of Independence?
Five of the signers 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 full well 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 was 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, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died alone and 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 lay 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.
Some of us take the liberties they paid so dearly for - for granted, but we can not continue to do so, if we wish to remain free.
Many of the original 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence lost their lives and/or their fortunes; but none of them lost their sacred honor. They paid dearly; so that we could be free.
We no longer have honorable men in charge of our Nation that is clearly in a great deal of trouble. We are again losing our freedoms to those who swore to protect "we the people". Who will stand with me and again pledge your life, your fortune, and your sacred honor to defend OUR freedoms from being again lost to another George, the "Decider"? Or have you already lost your sacred honor?
Stephen L. Tvedten - No one is free when others are oppressed.
Stephen L. Tvedten - No one is free when others are oppressed.
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Bush Challenges More Than 750 Laws - President cites powers of his office By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | April 30, 2006 - WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research. Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.
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"NOTICE: Several years ago, I was personally warned that my emails and websites are being monitored on a daily basis by the FBI and that if there is another 9/11 - I will not be able to write or speak in this Nation again. Due to the current Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency also may have read this email (and/or any other email) you receive or send without warning, warrant or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection except to call for the impeachment of those responsible."
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"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself." ~Thomas Paine
"Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
"The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree." ~Thomas Campbell
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." ~Abraham Lincoln
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." ~Thomas Paine
"Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance." ~Woodrow Wilson
"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved." ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." ~Ben Franklin
"We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights." ~Felix Frankfurter
"The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power." ~Daniel Webster
"We must be the change we wish to see" -- Mahatma Gandhi
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