Did you know:

• Five signers of the Declaration of Independence were captured during the course of the Revolutionary War. Had the British government classified them as traitors, they could have been hanged.

• More American soldiers died of neglect and disease while being held captive on “prison ships” off the coast of New York than in all the Revolutionary War battles.

• Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were the only signers of the Declaration of Independence to later serve as President. George Washington, the “Father of Our Country,” was otherwise occupied winning a war.
• While famously signing his name to our founding document with an oversized hand, John Hancock reportedly said, “His majesty can now read my name without glasses. And he can double the reward on my head.”

Bold acts are drained of danger by the time they reach history books. Whether we are reading about them on a sunny beach, riding in a train or in an armchair, it seems all the worry is removed from even the most perilous acts.

Of course, the men who made the approaching July 4^th holiday possible knew no such safety. John Paul Jones, the Scottish sailor who is remembered as the “Father of the American Navy,” welcomed danger with these words: “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.”

At Saint John's church in Richmond, Va., Patrick Henry's words rang out: “Give me liberty or give me death.” While campaigning on the battlefield, George Washington said to his men, “We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die.” And John Adams wrote, “Liberty must at all hazards be supported.”