Fredrick Douglass quote on Freedom

"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are people who want crops without plowing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will."

- Frederick Douglass

What happened to the signers of the Declaration of Independence

Someone sent this to me yesterday. Don't know the source but it's appropriate for this time of year....


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Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the
Declaration of Independence?

Five were imprisoned 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 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 was 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 these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.
So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and
silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price
they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!