Sorry King George, it's too late to apologize

Who knew Ben Franklin could rock out. Yet I wonder if this emotionally tinged, passionate rendition of the men behind the Declaration of Independence, and thus the origin of our very nation's existence, isn't more accurate.
Do you really think they were stuffy-shirted aristocrats? Oh contraire.

Yes, most were men of fortune, men of all manners of educated service from judges to ministers to doctors to farmers to lawyers. They collectively made the original individualistic American palate, pursuing their dreams yet willing to sacrifice it all for the ultimate achievement - freedom.

Whatever you want to say about them, they weren't docile or prosaic. They were men of valor and courage, men willing to sacrifice their lives and their fortunes. And that's exactly what creating this nation cost them.

Do you honestly believe such an achievement could be mastered by men of apathy? Do you really think these men weren't exciting?

Then here's a taste.



Rush Limbaugh, Sr. once penned an incredibly heart-wrenching and vibrant essay about the signers. You can't read it without your heart rate increasing and heat rising to your face and fingers, as if unable to breathe until the last resounding statement.

In it, he quotes Stephan Hopkins, one of the signers, whose words have never left me. When I think of what awaited just off the harbor to destroy them, when I consider their odds of survival, when I remember the bloody price they paid, I can't help but think of Stephan Hopkins.

Stephan Hopkins, Ellery's colleague from Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he signed with a shaking pen, he declared: "My hand trembles, but my heart does not."

What happened to those men? What did their revolution cost them? Here's a taste.

Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is still intact.

Could they have done it with complacency and lackluster ambition? Or did these men hum with the passion of an ideal that would not leave them to rest. Did they thirst for it until life without freedom could no longer wet their lips?
Judge for yourself.

Curtsy to Allapundit at HotAir