Presents the lives, deaths, and scandals involving the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence, including John Adams, John Hancock, and Thomas Jefferson.

The fifty-six signers of America's Declaration of Independence risked their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” to found a new country. In this classic work, Benson J. Lossing describes the lives of each of the founding fathers, their greatest achievements, and what impelled them to take such an incredible risk. While some are well known to us – Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock – much of the pleasure in this book comes from reading about the lesser-known signers, and about the many challenges they faced throughout their lives in the young United States. Appendices contain Thomas Jefferson's original version of the Declaration, an analysis of its grievances, the subsequent Articles of Confederation and US Constitution, and the offending Stamp Act. This ebook edition includes an active table of contents, reflowable text, and 50 period engravings of the faces and signatures of the signers.

In July of 1776, the members of the Second Continental Congress were meeting in Philadelphia. After approving the resolution for independence, they adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. In the Declaration, each of the men pledged his life, fortune and sacred honor to the cause of American independence. These are the stories of those men.

"A finding aid for persons seeking information on, or descent from, any of the Signers of the Declaration"--Preface

Book jacket unfolds to reveal a full-color reproduction of the U.S. Constitution.

What started out as a quirky hobby soon became an obsession. During a road trip with friends to Boston, in a cemetery with three Declaration signers' graves, a project was born--traveling to and photographing the graves of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. It seemed an easy task. As photos were taken and names checked off the list, questions arose. Is this where the signer was first buried? Was he moved from an original burial spot? Why did that move happen? Is the actual grave location known? Along the quest, it turns out that a number of Declaration signers--prominent men in their colonies--are not interred in their original burial locations. Follow the adventure with some unusual stories, and discover how many graves were found and how many signers are not really buried where their marker sits.