Sacrifices of America's Founding Fathers

America's founding fathers are the object of derision today.  Once revered for bravery and sacrifices, it is fashionable to judge these pioneers  as a bunch of slaveowners, racists and white supremacists. This narrative ignores historical scholarship and trivializes their contributions to creating our United States.  

It is time to set the record straight.  These courageous signers of the Declaration of Independence risked their lives, their fortunes and property to stand up to the world's mightiest power Great Britain.  On July 4, 1776, fearless representatives of the 13 colonies demanded their independence from British tyranny.

Among the 56 men who signed the declaration, five were captured and imprisoned during the Revolutionary War; 27 lost property and possessions to British raids; five forfeited their entire fortunes helping fund the Continental Army; and 12 fought the British as members of state militias.

Each leader knew he signed his death warrant by inking the document. This was an act of treason in the eyes of Britain's notorious King George III.  The monarch wanted to crush the rebellion with brute force as a warning to other British colonies around the world. Don't mess with Great Britain.

Here are a few vignettes describing the suffering, selflessness and valor of our founding fathers: 

Richard Stockton, a New Jersey delegate, was targeted by British troops.  The English commandeered his estate to use as their headquarters.  When they left, troops burned his library, private papers, furniture and clothes,  He was captured and imprisoned in a facility reserved for common criminals.

A Georgian, George Walton, served in his state's militia.  During the siege of Savannah, a British Army cannonball shattered Walton's leg, leading to his capture and imprisonment.  He was released after nine months in jail in a prisoner exchange with an English navy captain.

While Walton was held captive, his wife was captured by the British and jailed on an island in the West Indies. She too was eventually freed in a prisoner exchange. 

British mercenaries plundered the 400-acre farm of New Jersey delegate John Hart. After his farm was appropriated, Hart narrowly escaped marauding troops by fleeing his home.  During his absence, his wife died and his children were shipped off to live with neighbors. 

British troops ransacked then destroyed the estate of Pennsylvanian George Clymer during the battle of Philadelphia.   His life in tatters, Clymer converted his entire fortune to continental currency, a gutsy move in light of the colonies' meager chances of defeating the British. He donated it to the war effort.

Other patriots opened their vaults to fund the Continental Army. Carter Braxton of Virginia loaned 10,000 pounds sterling to Congress, but was never repaid.  He spent much of his remaining wealth outfitting American war ships. His largesse left him bankrupt after the end of the war.

Arthur Middleton, Edward Rutledge and Thomas Heyward Jr. joined state militias and were captured by the British and sent to a treacherous prison in St. Augustine, Florida.  British troops destroyed the Long Island estate of Francis Lewis.  His wife was imprisoned and tortured. 

You could fill a book with the grief and pain dealt by the British to those who dared to sign the Declaration of Independence.  Even historians today ignore the founders agony.  Their mission is to blaspheme their reputations by reducing these tenacious leaders to simply slaveholders. 

This biased, dubious narrative lacks perspective and discounts historical scholarship. Some dismiss the facts because history was written by white men and women.  This is reverse racism and assumes scholarly research, records and handwritten personal documents are mere reflections of prejudice.

Rewriting the nation's history through today's lens also reflects personal biases. The New York Times' 1619 Project is a classic example of injecting race into every aspect of the founding of the country to conjure a certain narrative, despite the documented evidence to the contrary.  

It is patently false to claim that all the declaration signers were slaveholders.  Records compiled by historians at Britannica Encyclopedia determined that 14 founders owned slaves at one time or another, including James Madison, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  

Seven never owned slaves, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Paine.  Historians have been unable to ascertain through extensive research whether or not the remaining 25 men who affixed their names to the declaration ever owned a single slave.

Another fact often ignored is that many founding fathers opposed slavery at the time the declaration was written.  A majority of founders, with the exception of those from South Carolina and Georgia, included language in the Articles of Confederation prohibiting the importation of slaves to individual states.

After the declaration, attitudes of the founders from the northern colonies shifted. Many openly campaigned to end slavery.  Ben Franklin, who had owned slaves, freed his slaves and later became president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.  He signed petitions as early as 1790 to abolish slavery.

Jon Jay, one of the largest slaveholders in New York, joined Alexander Hamilton in founding the New York Manumission Society, establishing the New York African Free School in 1787.  Robert Morris, during the debate on the Constitution, advocated for its abolition, branding it a "nefarious institution."

A balanced view of history would, however, concede that when the last of the remaining founders died in the 1830's, slavery still existed in the United States.  Those who opposed the owning of human beings were unsuccessful in overcoming the interests of southern states in retaining slave labor.  

It is a sad footnote to the founders' contributions. Nevertheless the majority of the signers of the Declaration of Independence acted in the name of unity to preserve the fragile coalition of colonies. Without the support of southern states, the Revolutionary War would have been lost.

Whatever your personal view, it  does not change what happened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1776,  The United States became a nation, unshackled from British rule.  The valiant men who wrote and signed this famous document deserve our eternal gratitude not scorn.