The following message is floating around this week. It comes from Rush Limbaugh.
I think it is hokum; is there a reputable source which can be accessed
to show it is either generally true or so much muck?
Burgy
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
"Our Lives, Our Fortunes,
Our Sacred Honor"
The Americans who Risked Everything The Fate of
the Signers of the Declaration of Independence
by Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr.
Preface
I can think of no better way to celebrate the Fourth of July, and this
nation's great legacy, than by publishing a speech written by my father. He
delivered the oft-requested address locally a number of times, but it has
never before appeared in print. My dad was renowned for his oratory and for
his original mind; this speech is, I think, a superb demonstration of both.
I will always be grateful to him for instilling in me a passion for the
ideas and lives of America's Founders, as well as a deep appreciation for the
inspirational power of words ... which you will see evidenced here:
(snipped a lot to get to the part I question)
"... the British marked down every member
of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became
the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had
narrow escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds
suffered.
Francis Lewis, New York delegate, saw his home plundered and his estates,
in what is now Harlem, completely destroyed by British soldiers. Mrs. Lewis
was captured and treated with great brutality. Though she was later
exchanged for two British prisoners through the efforts of Congress, she died
from the effects of her abuse.
William Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape with his
wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where they lived
as refugees without income for seven years. When they came home, they found
a devastated ruin.
Phillips Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York confiscated
and his family driven out of their home. Livingstone died in 1778 still
working in Congress for the cause.
Louis Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber, crops,
and livestock taken. For seven years he was barred from his home and family.
John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home to see
his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped in the woods.
While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked
his Homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across
the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was able to
sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children
taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779, without
ever finding his family.
Dr. John Witherspoon, signer, was president of the College of New Jersey,
later called Princeton. The British occupied the town of Princeton, and
billeted troops in the college. They trampled and burned the finest college
library in the country.
Judge Richard Stockton, another New Jersey delegate signer, had rushed
back to his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and children. The
family found refuge with friends, but a sympathizer betrayed them. Judge
Stockton was pulled from bed in the night and brutally beaten by the
arresting soldiers. Thrown into a common jail, he was deliberately starved.
Congress finally arranged for Stockton's parole, but his health was ruined.
The judge was released as an invalid, when he could no longer harm the
British cause. He returned home to find his estate looted and did not live
to see the triumph of the revolution. His family was forced to live off
charity.
Robert Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and signer, met
Washington's appeals and pleas for money year after year. He made and raised
arms and provisions which made it possible for Washington to cross the
Delaware at Trenton. In the process he lost 150 ships at sea, bleeding his
own fortune and credit almost dry.
George Clymer, Pennsylvania signer, escaped with his family from their
home, but their property was completely destroyed by the British in the
Germantown and Brandywine campaigns.
Dr. Benjamin Rush, also from Pennsylvania, was forced to flee to
Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the army, Rush had several narrow escapes.
John Morton, a Tory in his views previous to the debate, lived in a
strongly loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When he came out for independence,
most of his neighbors and even some of his relatives ostracized him. He was
a sensitive and troubled man, and many believed this action killed him. When
he died in 1777, his last words to his tormentors were: "Tell them that they
will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it [the signing] to
have been the most glorious service that I rendered to my country."
William Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and home burned
to the ground. Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his health
broken from privation and exposures while serving as a company commander in
the military. His doctors ordered him to seek a cure in the West Indies and
on the voyage he and his young bride were drowned at sea.
Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., the other
three South Carolina signers, were taken by the British in the siege of
Charleston. They were carried as prisoners of war to St. Augustine, Florida,
where they were singled out for indignities. They were exchanged at the end
of the war, the British in the meantime having completely devastated their
large land holdings and estates.
Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of the
Virginia military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in
Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown piece by
piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters into Nelson's
palatial home. While American cannonballs were making shambles of the town,
the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in rage to
the American gunners and asked, "Why do you spare my home?" They replied,
"Sir, out of respect to you." Nelson cried, "Give me the cannon!" and fired
on his magnificent home himself, smashing it to bits. But Nelson's sacrifice
was not quite over. He had raised two million dollars for the Revolutionary
cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer
peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson's property was
forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later
at the age of 50.
Lives, Fortunes and Honor
Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of
wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in
each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire
families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All
were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their
homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost
everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged
word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create, is
still intact.
And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark. He gave two
sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and
sent to the infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York harbor known as
the hell ship "Jersey," where 11,000 American captives were to die. The
younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father.
One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight,
with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding
to the British request when they offered him his sons' lives if he would
recant and come out for the King and parliament. The utter despair in this
man's heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us
down through 200 years with his answer: "No."
The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence proved by their every
deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent
curtain line in history. "And for the support of this Declaration with a
firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to
each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."
(snipped some more)
(c) Copyright 1996 The Limbaugh Letter. Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr. is the late
father of conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. This speech was
published in the July, 1996 issue of "The Limbaugh Letter". Available from
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com or
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/read.foundersfates.html.
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