As requested, here is the e-mail. Later, Noel"Spirit Rider"Bell ----- Original Message ----- From: "J. L. Bell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "RevList" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2000 9:28 AM Subject: [Revlist] price of liberty > Adam passed on the essay that begins: > <<Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the > Declaration of Independence? . . . >> > > Be careful about endorsing this essay. It's riddled with errors, and has > earned its own page at the web's Urban Legends Reference (www.snopes.com), > along with various cookie recipes, dying children, and get-rich schemes. > Just to start at the top: <<Five signers were captured by the > British as traitors, and tortured before they died.>> Five signers were > indeed captured by the British. None died in captivity. One (Richard > Stockton) died shortly after his release, the other four years after the > war. None was deliberately tortured by the British as part of punishment or > interrogation. Stockton seems to have been the only man arrested > specifically for signing the Declaration. > No signer died of wounds received in fighting the British. The only > signer who died of wounds during the war was Button Gwinnett, who received > his during a duel with another American. > Some of the statements about individuals in this essay are true, > others are exaggerated or incomplete, and some are outright falsehoods. > It's troubling that an author who obviously admires the signers felt > compelled to distort their lives--that seems disrespectful of the very > history he or she wants to call attention to. > Even without checking the life stories of the signers (and because > of that act, their stories are much better preserved than other American > politicians of the time), we can judge the truthfulness of this essay from > this one passage: > <<The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the > Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British > subjects at that time and we fought our own government!>> > Can anyone name a history book that leaves out the fact that > Americans were British subjects in 1775? > > J. L. Bell [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Call Your eGroup and Save With beMANY! > http://click.egroups.com/1/5072/10/_/534055/_/962125372/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Visit the RevList Homepage, which includes book and movie reviews, a list of sutlers, RevList member photos, etc., at > > http://www.liming.org/revlist/ > > _______ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Eat the hay & spit out the sticks! - A#1's mule" RTKB&G4JC! http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
