I'm Naming Names: 56 of Them to Be Exact

56 Traitors

From Independence Day, 2012:

At The Volokh Conspiracy, Randy Barnett annotates the Declaration of Independence. His concise (e.g. doesn't take much time to at least skim through and come back to tomorrow when you have more time) article begins:

When reading the Declaration, it is worth keeping in mind two very important facts. The Declaration constituted high treason against the Crown and every person who signed it would be executed as traitors should they be caught by the British. Second, the Declaration was considered to be a legal document by which the revolutionaries justified their actions, and explained why they were not truly traitors. It represented, as it were, a literal indictment of the Crown and Parliament, in the very same way that criminals are now publicly indicted for their alleged crimes by grand juries representing “the People.”

But to justify a revolution, it was not thought to be enough that officials of the government of England, the Parliament, or even the sovereign himself had violated the rights of the people. No government is perfect; all governments violate rights. This was well known. So the Americans had to allege more than mere violations of rights. They had to allege nothing short of a criminal conspiracy to violate their rights systematically. Hence, the famous reference to “a long train of abuses and usurpations” and the list that follows. In some cases, these specific complaints account for provisions eventually included in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

It ends: 

The assumption of natural rights expressed in the Declaration of Independence can be summed up by the following proposition:  “first comes rights, then comes government.”  According to this view: (1) the rights of individuals do not originate with any government, but preexist its formation;  (2) The protection of these rights is the first duty of government; and (3) Even after government is formed, these rights provide a standard by which its performance is measured and, in extreme cases, its systemic failure to protect rights — or its systematice violation of rights — can justify its alteration or abolition; (4) At least some of these rights are so fundamental that they are “inalienable,” meaning they are so intimately connected to one’s nature as a human being that they cannot be transferred to another even if one consents to do so.  This is powerful stuff.

[my emphases]

 I would emphasize different words today.

Who were these guys-- these 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress? And how were their lives changed by becoming Traitors? Here are a few tidbits from The Founders' Almanac: A Practical Guide to the Notable Events, Greatest Leaders & Most Eloquent Words of the American Founders, Matthew Spalding, ed., The Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C., 2002.

• Franklin, at 70, was the oldest; Thomas Lynch Jr. from South Carolina, 27, the youngest
• Eighteen were merchants, 14 farmers, four doctors, 22 lawyers, nine judges, one active clergyman
• Seventeen served in the military during the Revolution
• Five were captured by the British
• One, Thomas McKean of Delaware, wrote that he was "hunted like a fox by the enemy-- compelled to remove my family five times in a few months... "
• Two of Abraham Clark's sons were captured. John Witherspoon's son was killed at the Battle of Germantown
• Eleven had their homes and properties destroyed
• Francis Lewis' wife was taken prisoner
• John Hart died while fleeing capture

Here are the 56 Traitors, by name (links all go to Wikipedia):

• New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
• Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
• Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
• Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
• New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
• New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
• Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
• Delaware: George Read, Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean
• Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
• Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
• North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
• South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
• Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton