Page 28 - Leisure Living

Declaration Of
Independence
Continued from page 27
of the Declarations — Clark and the others knew it also extended to their families. Two of Clark’s sons — Aaron and Thomas — were officers in the Continental Army. During the war, both of them were captured, tortured and beaten.
Thomas was put aboard a particularly bru- tal prison ship named Jersey. The ship was rife with small pox, dysentery and other diseases, and scores of dead were regularly tossed overboard to make room for new prisoners.
Aaron was thrown into a dungeon in New York. He was so malnourished and in such bad shape that other prisoners — themselves under- fed — shoved bits of food through a keyhole to help him survive.
Eventually, the British offered Abraham Clark the lives of his sons if he would recant his signing and support of the Declaration of Independence. He refused.
It’s not entirely clear what ultimately happened to his sons. It appears Thomas finally gained his freedom; Aaron’s fate is less certain.
But Clark never wavered in his commitment to the revolution. He continued serving in Congress on and off through the remainder of the war. Af- ter the United States Constitution was ratified, Clark served from 1791 to 1794 as a New Jersey representative to the new federal government. He was 68 when he died of sunstroke in 1794.
Then there’s the story of Francis Lewis, a del- egate from New York. Lewis was born in Wales in 1713. Orphaned as a child, the enterprising young man made his way to America and turned a small inheritance into a fortune in the mercan- tile business.
He married his business partner’s sister, Eliza- beth Annesley. They had seven children, but only three survived past infancy.
Lewis led a rather eventful life, and by 1765 he was ready to retire to his home in Long Island. But he became active in the patriot movement and, in 1775, he was elected to Congress. When the time came, Lewis was a willing signer of the Declaration. At 63, he was the oldest delegate from New York to put his signature on the doc- ument; he also risked a fortune that he’d spent a lifetime building.
28 |LeisureLiving June 2015
As Lewis and the other New Yorkers signed the declaration, they knew that the British were pre- paring to strike the shores of their colony. Indeed, a short time after the signing, the British attacked Long Island.
A battleship fired on Lewis’s home while his wife and their servants were still inside. Their home was destroyed in the attack, and Elizabeth — about 60 years old at the time — was captured and taken to a New York prison. Her captors de- nied her a bed, change of clothing and decent food for weeks.
In retaliation, George Washington arranged for the wives of two prominent Philadelphia To- ries — colonists who remained loyal to England — to be placed under house arrest so they could be swapped for Elizabeth. She was eventually re- leased, but not allowed to leave New York.
In 1779, about two years after her harrowing captivity, Elizabeth died at the age of 64. Lewis never rebuilt his home. After the war, he lived out his days with his sons. He was almost 90 when he died.
Both Clark and Lewis — and most of the oth- er 56 — were established men of means with much to lose when they signed the Declaration. It would have been easy for them to stay out of the fray, to live out their lives in tranquility and comfort.
But instead, they took up the fight for freedom and pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to the “Glorious Cause of America.” Through their sacrifice our nation was born. We owe a debt of gratitude to them all.
Happy Fourth of July everyone!
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