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As we celebrate Independence Day, may we never forget the heavy price paid for the freedom we enjoy.
If future generations are to maintain their freedom, those of us who know something of our history and the price paid for our freedom must pass it on to the next generations. Sadly, many students today are not receiving sufficient factual history to prepare them to function as responsible citizens.
Freedom lost is seldom regained without tremendous sacrifice and loss of blood. Freedom paid for by our founding fathers has slowly been allowed to erode away until now we are in jeopardy of losing everything that previous generations have purchased with their blood, sweat and sacrifices.
The 56 men, who signed their names to the Declaration of Independence penned by Thomas Jefferson, paid a price that is recorded in history but rarely taught to students in government schools today.
They risked everything to secure our freedom and independence from a tyrannical government. They succeeded, but most lost everything in the process.
Five of the signers were captured by the British and died from torture. Nine were wounded in battle. Twelve had their homes burned.
Francis Lewis of New York avoided capture, but his estate was burned to the ground and his wife was locked up in a prison ship and died. Lewis never recovered from the loss.
The homes of Arthur Middleton from South Carolina, Lewis Morris and Richard Stockton were burned to the ground.
Virginian Carter Braxton owned a fleet of ships when he signed the Declaration. The royal navy tracked them down and sank all of them. The same fate was experienced by Joseph Hawes of North Carolina.
Robert Morris, a wealthy importer, spent $10,000 of his own money to feed and clothe George Washington’s troops during the Crossing of the Delaware. He died in poverty.
Richard Stockton was captured in November 1776 and spent several years in prison. He died broke. Thomas Lynch of South Carolina and his wife were lost at sea.
Thomas Jefferson had to go into hiding and resign as Governor of Virginia because the British were hunting him constantly.
Respect for the US Constitution was lost when the South was defeated in 1865. Power was shifted from the sovereign states to the central government the states had created. Rather than serving the states, the federal government became the ruler of the states. Currently the President and the Congress have allowed the courts to rule the people, leaving them without reasonable recourse.
Through the years, hundreds of thousands of America’s finest have shed their blood to free the citizens of other nations from tyrants, while at home, we have elected individuals to state and federal office who have allowed the power of the people through their elected representatives to be eroded.
On this Independence Day 2008, we find our constitutional republic in serious jeopardy of becoming a socialist dictatorship without a large segment of the citizens knowing the difference.
While spending hundreds of billions of dollars on educational improvements, we have become one of the poorest educated western hemisphere countries on earth.
People who do not know their history and are not willing to sacrifice everything to remain free are destined to repeat their mistakes and will not remain free for long.
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