What happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Georgia - Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
North Carolina - William Hooper. Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina - Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts - John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Maryland - Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia - George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania - Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware - Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
New York - William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey - Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
New Hampshire - Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Rhode Island - Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut - Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

Have you ever wondered about the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? What kind of men they were? Or what happened to them after they signed the document that birthed a new nation?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, four were doctors, and although two others had been clergy previously, John Witherspoon of New Jersey was the only active clergyman to attend. They were well educated, seven had attended Harvard, four each at Yale and William & Mary, and three at Princeton. John Witherspoon was the president of Princeton and George Wythe was a professor at William & Mary. Forty-two had served in their States legislature. Nine were immigrants, two were brothers, two were cousins, and one was an orphan. They were slave owners and duelists, men who were good in business and men who were not. In short, they were ordinary human beings, thrust into an extraordinary situation. They put their lives on the line to preserve the country they loved.

Seventeen fought in the ensuing war: Thomas Nelson was a colonel in the Second Virginia Regiment and William Whipple served with the New Hampshire militia. Oliver Wolcott led the Connecticut regiments sent for the defense of New York and commanded a brigade of militia that took part in the defeat of General Burgoyne. Caesar Rodney was a Major General in the Delaware militia and John Hancock was the same in the Massachusetts militia.

Five of the signers were captured by the British during the war although only Richard Stockton of New Jersey is said to have been imprisoned solely for having signed the Declaration of Independence. He died a year after he was released. Colonel George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah and was exchanged for a British naval captain. Captains Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, and Arthur Middleton were all captured during the siege of Charleston in 1780 and exchanged a year later, too late to protect their property which had been looted as had the properties of Hall, Clymer, Walton, Hooper and Gwinnett. Gwinnett later died in a duel with a political rival in Georgia in 1777.

Thomas Lynch of South Carolina was arrested in 1780 and held on board a British prison ship for a year. During his imprisonment, his plantation was sacked and his slaves (more than 130) were taken and believed sold to sugar plantations in Jamaica. Twelve others had their homes ransacked and burned. Most of the homes that were destroyed were in the South at a time when the British had adopted a "scorched earth" policy against the colonies in an effort to gain the support of southern loyalists.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy and, after making several bad investments, was forced to sell his home and properties to pay his debts. Colonel Thomas McKean of Delaware 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.

Legend has it that when Thomas Nelson Jr was told that British General Cornwallis had taken over his home for British headquarters, he replied, "Blow the **** thing down." Nelson's house is still standing at Yorktown and there are cannonballs embedded in its east wall.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. His home on Long Island was destroyed by British cavalry in the fall of 1776. Mrs. Lewis was captured by the British but was eventually released in exchange for a British officer's wife. Mrs. Lewis died two years after her release.

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. He died a few years later, many said of a broken heart.

Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons captured by the British during the war. The son of John Witherspoon was killed at the Battle of Germantown.

After the Revolution, 13 of the signers went on to become governors, and 18 served in their state legislatures. Sixteen became state and federal judges. Seven became members of the United States House of Representatives, and six became United States Senators. James Wilson and Samuel Chase became Justices of the United States Supreme Court. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Elbridge Gerry each became Vice President, and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson became President. The sons of signers John Adams and Benjamin Harrison also became Presidents.

Extraordinarily, two of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence died on July 4th! U.S. Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died 50 years after the signing, to the day - on the same day. July 4th became a legal holiday in 1941.

"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth all the means. This is our day of deliverance." John Adams