07/01/2025
🇺🇸 Forgotten No More: The 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
A Kentucky Crossroads Special Feature
By Roger Ford
“We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
— Final line of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
On July 4, 1776, 56 men affixed their names to a radical document that would shake the world. These were not emperors, kings, or generals—but farmers, lawyers, merchants, physicians, and pastors. Ordinary men with extraordinary courage. Their signatures declared a new nation—and made them traitors in the eyes of the British Crown.
Here at Kentucky Crossroads, we honor their memory not as distant relics of history, but as enduring lights of liberty whose lives echo even now in the hollers and hills of Kentucky. Below is a short profile of each signer, grouped by state, preserving their legacy for the generations to come.
🔹 Delaware
George Read – Lawyer and statesman who helped Delaware ratify the Constitution. Initially opposed independence but later signed.
Caesar Rodney – Judge and militia officer, known for his dramatic overnight ride to cast Delaware’s deciding vote for independence.
Thomas McKean – President of Delaware, chief justice of Pennsylvania, and fiery revolutionary.
🔹 Pennsylvania
George Clymer – Merchant who helped fund the Revolution and later signed the Constitution.
Benjamin Franklin – Scientist, inventor, diplomat—his wit and wisdom helped win French support for the war.
Robert Morris – Financier of the Revolution who essentially bankrolled the Continental Army.
John Morton – Farmer and judge whose swing vote secured Pennsylvania’s support for independence.
Benjamin Rush – Leading physician and reformer, passionate about public health and mental illness care.
George Ross – Lawyer and militia officer with a deep commitment to the patriot cause.
James Smith – Irish-born lawyer and advocate for independence.
James Wilson – Brilliant legal theorist and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
🔹 Massachusetts
John Adams – The intellectual engine of independence, later became the 2nd U.S. President.
Samuel Adams – Instigator of the Boston Tea Party and father of grassroots revolution.
Elbridge Gerry – Merchant and future Vice President; his name lives on in the term “gerrymandering.”
Robert Treat Paine – Prosecutor of the Boston Massacre case and advocate for law and order.
🔹 New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett – Physician and later governor of New Hampshire.
William Whipple – Merchant and brigadier general in the New Hampshire militia.
Matthew Thornton – Physician and late signer who vigorously supported independence.
🔹 Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins – Governor, self-taught astronomer, and one of the oldest signers.
William Ellery – Lawyer and customs official who opposed slavery and supported naval development.
🔹 New York
William Floyd – Landowner and militia general who lost his estate during British occupation.
Philip Livingston – Merchant from a prominent family; died during the war.
Francis Lewis – Welsh immigrant whose wife was imprisoned and home destroyed by the British.
Lewis Morris – Aristocrat who sacrificed wealth and comfort for patriotism.
🔹 New Jersey
Abraham Clark – Known as the “Poor Man’s Counselor,” he defended average farmers and laborers.
John Hart – Farmer who fled the British but never wavered in support for the cause.
Francis Hopkinson – Judge, poet, and artist who helped design the American flag.
Richard Stockton – Lawyer captured by the British; suffered torture and exile.
John Witherspoon – Presbyterian minister and president of Princeton who educated many revolutionaries.
🔹 Virginia
George Wythe – Legal mentor to Thomas Jefferson and Henry Clay; father of American legal education.
Richard Henry Lee – Orator who introduced the resolution for independence.
Thomas Jefferson – Author of the Declaration, third President, and architect of liberty.
Benjamin Harrison – Patriarch of a presidential family; signed despite British threats.
Thomas Nelson Jr. – Governor and general who used his own fortune to fund troops.
Francis Lightfoot Lee – Quiet patriot and member of Virginia’s powerful Lee family.
Carter Braxton – Wealthy merchant who lost his fortune supporting the war.
🔹 North Carolina
William Hooper – Boston-educated lawyer who became a Southern revolutionary.
Joseph Hewes – Secretary of the Navy Board, vital in forming the Continental Navy.
John Penn – Lawyer who played a key role in shaping North Carolina’s early government.
🔹 South Carolina
Edward Rutledge – The youngest signer at age 26; later served as governor.
Thomas Heyward Jr. – Judge and militia officer captured by the British.
Thomas Lynch Jr. – Aristocrat lost at sea during a diplomatic voyage.
Arthur Middleton – Plantation owner and patron of culture, also captured by the British.
🔹 Georgia
Button Gwinnett – Merchant who died in a duel shortly after signing.
Lyman Hall – Minister and physician, later governor and founder of the University of Georgia.
George Walton – Youngest Georgia delegate, later served as governor and chief justice.
📍 Kentucky Connections
While none of the signers resided in Kentucky, their legacy touches our Commonwealth:
Thomas Jefferson’s legal philosophies helped shape Kentucky’s early constitutions.
George Wythe’s students mentored our frontier leaders.
Richard Henry Lee’s family held land in early Kentucky settlements.
And their ideals? They echo still—in the coal towns, back roads, and courtrooms of Eastern Kentucky.
✒️ Final Thought
These were men of conviction, not comfort. They pledged their lives and fortunes. Some died broke, some in battle, and some in disgrace—but they gave us the chance to be free.
As we celebrate this Independence Day, let us remember not just the fireworks, but the fire of courage that birthed this nation.
– Roger Ford, M.A., Editor
