#56 July 4

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Every 4th of July I remind myself of the leaders who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Those leaders risked their lives by signing a document that has led to freedoms we have today. Today as a country we are still grappling with issues of freedom. What they set out to do has not been perfected yet.

Back in 2014 I was curious about who signed the Declaration of Independence and researched the names on that document. Of course I had some idea about John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. What I wasn’t sure of us was how many names were on the document and who were those people. That led me to discovering there were 56 signers of the Declaration.

I have lived in three states New Jersey, South Carolina, and North Carolina. I wanted to know more detail about the signers from those states.

The 56 men who signed the DECLARATION did it thru a process. Eight of the 56 were from Britain and Ireland. As I read the bios of each signee I realized that none of them was perfect, yet each had redeeming qualities and compelling life stories.

I highly recommend you read the bios of the 56 leaders who set the country on a path to freedom.

The names of the signers from NJ, NC, and SC with a hyperlink to their bio are found below.

New Jersey included:
Abraham Clark, Francis Hopkinson, John Witherspoon, John Hart, and Richard Stockton

North Carolina included:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and John Penn

South Carolina included:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Lynch Jr, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward Jr

Our country has evolved because 56 leaders took a risk.

Happy 4th of July!

#56 July 4