The Fourth of July will soon be upon us… Hopefully, a time for a sunny day with picnics or barbeques in the back yard or a day at the beach, followed by fireworks at night.

But it is not just meant to be just another day off from work, another day for summery activities and fireworks. It should also be a day of reflection in remembrance of what happened in Philadelphia 247 years ago to make this country free and of the men who swore an oath on that day, in a time when swearing an oath was considered a morally sacred obligation, and what happened to those men.

The oath they signed in 1776 was a summing up of their resolve… Those words are the last words of the last sentence of the Declaration of Independence, “…we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

These men were lawyers, jurists, merchants, farmers, shop owners, and owners of large plantations… men of means, well educated. They signed the Declaration knowing full well what they were putting at risk. They were British subjects at the time. They knew that the penalty for treason was death by hanging. They were not wild-eyed rabble-rousers but mostly soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but valued liberty even more. Each one surely had more to lose from the revolution than he had to gain by it. But they all stood tall, and unwaveringly signed, pledging their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to each other and everyone else living in the colonies back then… and to every American that followed in the 247 years since then!

These were the fates of the signers:

• Nine did pay the ultimate price… and died from wounds or hardships during the war.
• Five were captured by the British, charged with treason, and were tortured before they died
• Twelve signers had their homes ransacked and burned
• Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army
• Another man had two sons captured
• Several lost wives, sons or entire families
• One lost his 13 children
• All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes
• Another 17 lost everything they ever owned, along with all of their money. They were left penniless and impoverished

Yet not one of them defected or went back on his pledged word.

Of note is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark, the man who had sons serving in the Revolutionary Army and both had been captured. His sons were sent to the infamous British prison boat known as the hell ship “Jersey” sitting in New York Harbor, where 11,000 Americans would die. Clark’s sons received extra brutal treatment because of their father signing the Declaration. One was thrown into solitary and given no food. With the war almost over and won, no one could have blamed their father, Abraham Clark, if he had accepted the British offer of sparing his sons’ lives! But they would only do this if Clark would recant his oath and come out in favor of the King and Parliament.

Certainly, with utter despair and tormented anguish in his heart and soul, the answer he gave them was, “No!”

These 56 men proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed that magnificent pledge. They ultimately gave us, you and me, a free and independent United States of America whose liberties should never be taken for granted.

Freedom is never free. That is why we have to fight for it! We must pay attention to those who we allow to govern us. We must periodically reawaken the purity of those who govern with fresh new blood, fresh ideas, but above all, those with the best intentions for this country to continue under each person’s individual freedoms. This is why we honor these men, and all those who have stood against tyranny… why we should proudly fly our flag… and ALWAYS stand during the National Anthem in honor, respect, and memory in of the 56.

The words in the last sentence of our Declaration of Independence, a document that forever changed this country has gone on, and continues to go on, to change the world in which we live, they were bold and courageous, "…we pledge… our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

Have a happy Fourth,

Michael Carbone

West Warwick

Editor’s Note: According to research on the internet, some of these incidents were not in retaliation of signing the declaration but from the war.