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In the years after independence, reports from a variety of Founding Fathers asserted that the document was signed on the same day as it was adopted. This date was initially a matter of dispute. historians agree that the document was in fact signed on August 2, 1776. In fact, it is probable that the majority of the delegates to Congress didn’t sign the document for nearly a month after ratification. What is less commonly known, however, is that it is unlikely that the Declaration itself was signed on July 4.
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If you ask just about any American, they can correctly identify that date. Independence Day in the United States is celebrated on July 4, the day the Second Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence. Today’s post comes from Andrew Grafton in the National Archives History Office. The Dunlap Broadside does not include the names of all the signers. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.John Dunlap printed copies of the Declaration of Independence in his Philadelphia shop on the night of July 4, 1776. They had security, but they valued liberty more. They were soft-spoken men of means and education.
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These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.įrancis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.
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The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.Īt the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
When was declaration of independence signed full#
But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.Ĭarter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the revolutionary war. Two lost their sons in the revolutionary army, another had two sons captured. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?įive signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.