Other information derived from that site concerning some characteristics of the signers of our Declaration of Independance:
2 were under the age of 30 at the time of signing.... both were 26
A total of 19 of the 56 signers were under the age of 40
17 were 50 or over in age: 6 were in their 60's and 1 was 70y/o
The average age at signing was 44.3 y/o.
All of them were MEN and, although some died at an early age, several within 1-5 yrs of signing, (the youngest death was at 30, and one died a year after signing), still the average age at death was 66.14yrs. 14 lived to be 80yrs or more with 3 in their 90's. [I find this interesting that with all the hardship and lack of modern technology and medical acheivements.... on which most of us do depend or regard as essential........ God blessed them with a longevity which would rival modern figures as recent as the 1960's and 1970's.]
Most of them were born here BUT 8 of them were foreign born...... or one/seventh of the number were immigrant/patriots!
One was a bachelor and on another no information is given. Of the remaining 54, they had a total of 70 marriages between them.... which means in all probability, considering the neglible divorce rate of that day, that 16 had been widowed of their first wife and remarried. One can derive the reality of experiencing and processing the grief through which they passed. Of those 54 marriages, 3 had no progeny but there were 337 offspring born to the remaining 51 signers. With the largest number at 18 children..... several had 1, several had 2, and several had only 3 children: But the average family size among all those signers with off-spring exceed 6 children per household.
They were not 'stupid' or uneducated men:
2 were ministers,
4 were physicians,
24 were lawyers,
3 were scientists,
1 was a musician,
1 a printer,
17 were merchants,
1 was a military officer,
13 owned plantations,
and 1 was a surveyor.
Some had several occupations.
In spite of the reputation we ascribe to lawyers, and merchants, and sometimes doctors, now a-days, these men were well studied in the virtues of godly living, the ancient philosophies, course of history and past wars and revolutions, the frailties of human nature and that of governments and set aside their own selfish appetites and entered into a covanant of selfless ambition with the goal of establishing Independance and a new government.
They set up the charter which specified the justifications for their separation from the former rule and necessity of pursuing a new government, and the premise that God, not government, is the author of liberty for all who would be free.
Through out our early beginnings, God has been there and his blessings and his shaping upon our nation can be seen. Now, it seems, many in society want God to go away: When we acknowledge God, we cannot do so with out acknowledging that we are also sinners and dependant on him for our salvation and liberty: But, when free men turn from God because of selfish and immoral reasons to exercise and abuse their own liberties, and society tumbles into immorality, and noone turns it around, we set up the crisis which brings upon us chains of bondage and tryanny which will control all, regarding no one as having virtue.
