Published: July 05, 2009 12:49 am      

EDITORIAL: Fifty-six heroes who made a solemn pledge

This weekend marks the 233rd anniversary of a solemn pledge made by 56 brave men. They had grown tired of the tyrannical rule of an English king, and they signed what became known as the Declaration of Independence.

“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,” they wrote.

For many of those men, that final sentence proved all too true.

Robert Morris financed a good bit of the war effort from his own pocket. He lent the fledgling government $10,000 early in the war, and he continued throughout the war to underwrite the privateers sneaking supplies past the British naval blockades. Ten years after signing the Declaration of Independence, Morris died in relative poverty at the age of 73.

When New Jersey was overrun by the British in November of 1776, Richard Stockton managed to move his family to safety, but he was captured and imprisoned by the British. He lost all of his extensive library, his writings and all of his property, and he died a pauper in Princeton at the age of 51.

And then there was Carter Braxton, who lost nearly all of his wealth in the course of the revolution, and Thomas Heyward Jr., who was taken prisoner by the British while in command of a militia force during the siege of Charleston.

Arthur Middleton spent more than a year as a prisoner of war and then lost most of his fortune during the revolution.

This weekend we’ll celebrate that occasion 233 years ago in the way John Adams said we should — “with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of the continentto the other.”

We’ll gather to race a few lawnmowers or burn a few hot dogs, to catch a few fish or an occasional fly ball.

But in the midst of our games and picnics, our music and fireworks, we would do well to pause for a moment to reflect on the courage of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence and to ponder their legacy of freedom.

Thanks to their courage, we have the opportunity to live in the greatest country in the world, and in spite of the occasional setback, the grand experiment in self-government marches on.

Happy birthday, America.

— The Pharos-Tribune Logansport, Ind.