Ravenwood’s posted an Oliver North article on the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Worth a read.
A few excerpts:
In an era when Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are revered revolutionaries, the 56 who signed the Declaration just don’t cut the mustard. They were all men of means, well educated and wealthy by the standards of the day. Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists; 11 were successful merchants and traders; 9, like Jefferson, were prosperous farmers. Nine of them would die before the war was over; 5 were captured and tortured by the British and 12 had their homes looted and destroyed.
…
All 56 signers were hunted, hounded and declared criminals. All were indicted, tried in absentia for treason, and all were convicted and condemned. Yet, despite all they endured, not one man broke his pledge.
“In an era when Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are revered revolutionaries, the 56 who signed the Declaration just don’t cut the mustard. They were all men of means, well educated and wealthy by the standards of the day”
A few minor points:
Ernesto “Che” Guevara studied to be a Medical Doctor, was extremely well read,
therefore can hardly be considered “not-well-educated by the standards of the day.”
Fidel Castro also was, from his formative years, well educated and considered
a gifted and intellectually promising student.
Just because they leaned towards communism/socialism, does not mean they were any
less brave, intelligent, and/or patriots for their respective movments.
Yes, the signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave souls. Do not confuse
one set of freedom fighters with another simply because of what they stood for.
-Abject.
Men of means….One set of men with means to provide freedom for themselves and their countrymen and one set of men/man with the means to make themselves/himself a King/dictator….SPC
Sean P. Collins …
.. if you take an extremely simplistic view of things, then yes your statement
is correct.
I could put up a similar arguement, in such fashion for the following:
Men of means, moved to protect their property and status within the community,
and using freedom as a blanket, versus Men of Means, moved to remove the property
from those who have corrupted it and return it to the people, using freedom as
a blanket.
Unfortunately, things are not always black and white.
-Abject.
A few points for the sake of accuracy as well:
5 Signers of the Declaration of Independence were captured by the British; however, four of them were taken into custody as Prisoner’s of War (Captured during/after a battle) and not explictly because they had signed the document.
1. George Walton, Captured after being wounded while commanding Milita @ Battle of Savannah in Dec. 1778
2,3, &4. Thomas Heyward Jr, Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge (3 of the 4 signers of the Declaration from South Carolina, were taken prisoner at the Siege of Charleston. May, 1780.
More evident to the point, all four were eventually released, and not hung as traitors.
The fifth, interestingly enough, was taken prisoner because of signing the Declaration.
Richard Stockton of New Jersey was imprisoned like a common criminal. He was released when he recanted his pledge to the Declaration, and his signature, and proclaimed an oath swearing his allegiance to George III.
As for the looting of their homes, there is no evidence in any Historical text that any of the Signers were specifically targeted for looting. In the case of many of the Southern Signers, there is evidence that suggests BOTH sides looted their farms/homes for provisions.
None of this changes their heroism. Misrepresenting history, does.
-Abject.
Abject,
Of course they wanted to protect their property. Anyone who is mentally sound wants to protect their property and all their lifes interests, but you have to be free to have property and happiness. Kind of a given. That’s why I said “for themselves and their countrymen”. As far as a blaket, I have been provided a blanket of protection by them and every soldier that fired a shot since Lexington and Concord. Might I add that George Washington had more than one bullet rip thru his coat on more than one occasion nearly taking his life when he was on the BATTLE FIELD and not in the rear with the gear hiding behind a blanket. As far as you knowing their motives good or bad I would say you must know their hearts 200 years after their deaths. I myself believe no one knows a mans heart, although you might get a glimpse of Washington’s if you took the time to look up his prayers that he took the time to write out. Their available at the library of Congress. Fair statement for me on the founding fathers is “in a nutshell” all gave some, some gave all. SPC
Sean,
Thank you for completely missing the point of what I wrote. Nothing you stated is news to me. As you could infer from my post previous to this one, I am a student of History, especially concerning the Revolution. I am not some Liberal or Conservative Nut-Job that thinks the Founding Father’s are The Greatest People Ever, or the Worst People Ever. I simply stated that you cannot compare them the way that Essay did. Hell, it is fricking wrong on the vast majority of the ‘facts’ it represents, as I illistrated.
Also, you choose a poor example to prove your point of “leading from the front,” as that is exactly what both Che and Castro did during the Cuban Revolution. I don’t need to agree with the ideals they believed in, to recognize what they did.
If you’d like to continue this discussion, I will happily forward my E-mail, and we can begin discourse in that method.
-Abject.