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Signer's Index
Questions, comments, corrections or additions are solicited. Contact me at elbrecht@email.com
New for 2001 ;
Since I began questioning the accuracy of the 'Price they Paid' essays folks have been telling me I should write my own essay that instills the same patriotic fervor into a few words. I have repeatedly said that no-one could do justice to the entire group of Signers in less than a full length book.
Happily, I think I've been proven wrong on that point. Along with the very few of the 'Price they Paid' emails that have been forwarded my way this year was this excellent article which appeared in The Heritage Foundation's "The Backgrounder" June 19, 2001. Until I get permission to include it on my site a link will have to do. Scroll to the bottom of the page to "A Note on the Declaration of Independence"
How I got started on this quest.
The email that inspired me to dig a little deeper, a link to the CT SAR site which has the essay. If you scroll down the page, they have added the email from Prof. Harlowe that inspired me to continue reading about the Signers.
Versions [includes links to my responses to these essays]
Grading the newest version of the essay.
I give it less than 30%.
Bibliography
Help me, please. I am very interested in any additions especially to individual biographies.
I've tried to arrange the site in a way that will help researchers look up information on the Declaration, the Signers as individuals, as State Delegations, or as a 'body of the whole'.
There is a partial bibliography at the end of the
Limbaugh corrections. Those sources are all also on the main bibliography page.Links to Online Sites about the Signers and their Families
For now I've got a few included on the Bibliography page.
I am still working on the following;
Military service of the Signers and their families; Some of the family ties between the Signers; Occupations of the Signers; 'The Things They Did' ;
How I got started on this quest.
(Back to top)In 1998 someone posted a version of 'The Price They Paid' to a genealogy list. In the next day or so, Prof. Brooke Harlowe posted a reply to it that started out saying she had spent 'a few hours in the library'. She poked so many holes in that essay that I made a note to spend 'a few hours' of my own and see what more I could find.
It was another year before I 'got around to it', and those 'few hours' have turned into hundreds. I have discovered many more flaws in the original essay. I've also discovered several more similarly worded, but equally erroneous essays. And I'm just a little bit closer to finding the origins, if not the purpose, of all those flawed pieces of 'history'. The origins of these essays have intrigued me as much as the inaccuracies in them. If anyone has some thoughts on the origins, please drop me a line.
(Back to top)
Similar essays have been posted to the Libertarian party, John Birch Society, Pat Buchanan's & SAR sites. Even the DAR magazine carried one as an editorial with no comment on how far off the mark it was. They've been carried by magazines as far back as 1954, posted on 'party policy' pages, and entered into the Congressional record.
All of them probably came from the same source as they all repeat some of the same errors, and all have the same tone-- But each has an individuality that precludes them all coming from Paul Harvey's , or Rush Limbaugh's or Henry Lee's imagination.
Here's my most recent 'genealogy' of the myths;
A. Unknown creator -- Note, please, that this is where I believe the beginnings were. I know Limbaugh did not copy Harvey, and Harvey did not copy Limbaugh. Think of this as the 'father', with all of the 'children' and grandchildren following.
1. Lynn Montross, "Reluctant Rebels"
422 pages of text follow the Continental Congress and its 342 [or so] members from its birth in 1774 to its quiet ending in 1789. Overall, I think this is an excellent book, and will definitely lead to further reading.
Montross uses abbreviated footnotes at a rate of nearly 2 to a page. Most often cited is Burnett's "Letters to the Delegates", with the Journals of Congress following. [246 & 177 cites] The next most popular works cited are the 6 volumes of 'Works of John Adams', and 'Familiar Letters'.
This is a good book to read to see what the Signers did , and except for his 5 or 6 lapses into 'the price they paid', I found it enlightening, educating and entertaining. Unfortunately, wherever he goes into the repetition of the legends, Montross neglects to leave a footnote for a clue. I'm about halfway through reading all of his citations to try to discover his source.
2. Henry Lee, July 9, 1954. Collier's Magazine pp23-27
This one may be a 'step-child', as Henry Lee seems to have a few facts [and legends] that would most likely have been repeated by the other tale-tellers. The tone of it is the same, focusing on the real or imagined sacrifices of the Signers, while ignoring their many accomplishments.
It was also carried in the July 1955 Readers Digest.
3. Paul Harvey 1956 [1969 &1975]
Copyrighted in 1956 in his book "The Rest of the Story". The copyright was renewed when he reprinted a small book ("Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor") in 1976 that includes just the essay. The preface to the 1976 version is slightly updated, but no corrections are made.
a. Hildreth version abt1992
Identified by "Morris and Livingston suffered similar fates." Often Morris is misspelled 'Norris'. This seems to be the most prolific version, but most folks say it is anonymous, and no one knows who Gary Hildreth is. 'Hildreth' might be a red herring, but it is definitely a plagiarized version of the Harvey essays.
b. Rev. Trumbore, VFW magazine June 1999. Might be a copy of 'Hildreth'.
4. Fehrenbach, TR; 1965 American Legion Magazine
I have not yet compared the actual 1965 article to what was entered into the Congressional Record in June 2000, or to the 1965 Congressional Record. Taking on faith that the introduction by Strom Thurmond was accurate, for now I'm placing this one here in chronological order.
I have also included some quotes from the closing page of Fehrenbach's 1968 book, "Greatness To Spare" which closely resemble Harvey's essay. The book, like the magazine article, leaves a lot to be desired in the way of accuracy. Most of the article is repeated in the book verbatim.
5. James J. Drummey 1978
Identified by " destroying in the process the homes and lands of the four who signed for New York" and " [ Heyward , Middleton, and Rutledge] distinguished themselves in the defense of Charleston."
The Drummey version is not a rip off of Harvey, but he repeats most of the same errors in the July 5, 1978 issue of The Review of the News [now called The New American.] They repeated it in the June 24, 1996 issue of the "The New American".
6. Bruce Barton [LDS] 1984
Identified by "4 physicians" and "Of the 10 signers who died during the Revolutionary War". Published in a 1984 pamphlet distributed by the Latter Day Saints church.
7. Limbaugh Letter & DAR Magazine 1997 & 1998
Identified by; mentions the temperature, "9 were governors", Nelson shoots the cannon himself, misspells Philip Livingston [Philips Livingstone], Lewis Morris [Louis Morris], and in the DAR magazine John Morton [John Martin]. Also 'Several lost wives, sons, or entire families' and '17 lost everything they owned'.
If this speech was really the work of his father, then Rush came by his talent for entertaining naturally enough. It is great entertainment. If it were about anonymous Americans who lived during the Revolution, it would rank on my top ten favorite stories of the times. Unfortunately it is mostly not true.
Also mentioned on the
Limbaugh page is the Readers Digest version of the Limbaugh speech. [July 1998]. The editor of the Readers Digest piece snipped 60% of the wording, added several 'according to legend' warnings, and corrected a couple dozen of the errors in the remaining text. His resulting piece is the most accurate 'Price they Paid' essay I've seen to date.8. Meldrim Thomson, "100 Famous Founders" 1994
It is not an essay, but a self-published book that has quickly gone out of print. The book is more about politics and faith than history. It repeats nearly every legend as fact.
There are no footnotes. The bibliography, though a good list of books to read, appears to be just a list of books that Thomson thought he should read. When I compare the information in some of the books on that list to what he wrote in his book, I have to think he never read many of them. [PJ Scudierre's _New York's Signers of the Declaration of Independence_, and Dumas Malone's _The Story of The Declaration of Independence_ are notables in this category]
a. Pat Buchanan 1996
To his credit, Pat is the only one to mention a source. Unfortunately his source, Thomson's book, is a collection of legends which he [Thomson] has even embellished in a couple cases as near as I can tell. Even his preface doesn't agree with his text.
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Some collections of bios are better than others, but in general, I'd stay away from them altogether and read about the Signer's individually.
If you must read a collection, I'd recommend Dumas Malone's _The Story of The Declaration of Independence. He presents a good overview of the mood of the country, some solid facts, some 'legend busting' and brief bios of the Signers.
Most of the original thirteen States have published short pamphlets about their own delegates, and I have found them to usually be more reliable than any of the collections that try to cover all of the Signers.
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*************************************Questions, comments, corrections or additions are solicited.
Contact me at elbrecht@email.com
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2000 by James ElbrechtThis page was last updated on Mon, July 1, 2003