July 4th - Cost of Liberty

The Second Continental Congress voted to approve a legal separation from Great Britain on July 2^nd, and then debated and revised the wording of the Declaration for two days, finally approving it on July 4^th.  Of the 56 me that signed the Declaration of Independence, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died.  Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned, two lost sons serving in the Revolutionary Army and another had two sons captured, and nine died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. 

Fifty-six men of means and education that had security, but valued liberty more and were willing to sacrifice everything for their cause: “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.”  Did you fly our flag on Saturday?  I’m hoping you also took a moment to read the Declaration of Independence and pledged as President Lincoln did in his Gettysburg address “highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…”