Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, historians list as many as 9 as “farmers”. The National Archives, however, lists only one with that occupation – John Morton of Pennsylvania.
There were several plantation owners and landowners, but only Morton fit their definition. Other biographers include Abraham Clark and John Hart, both from New Jersey, as farmers.
Hart, of whom I will speak today, could also be categorized as one of the Founding Fathers who gave virtually all for the cause of independence. For example, two of his sons were captured by the British Navy, beaten, tortured and starved in a futile attempt to force Hart to recant his signing the Declaration.
When Washington retreated across New Jersey in December 1776, the British and Hessians ravaged Hart’s farm and forced him to flee from his wife’s deathbed. He spent months hiding in the woods and caves of the Sourwood mountains with his two youngest children.
The American victories at Trenton and Princeton and the ensuing withdrawal of British forces allowed him to return and begin rebuilding his life and farm. He remained active in New Jersey politics. In 1778 he invited the American army to camp at his farm from which they went on to win the Battle of Monmouth.
By this time, in his sixties, his hardships, coupled with the effort to rebuild, had taken a toll on his health. He died from kidney stones after painful months of illness. Hart was aware from the beginning of the price his signature could require, and nonetheless voted for independence with “unusual zeal”, in his own words.
Patriotism was more than a political buzzword for him, and as the document he gave so much for stated, he freely pledged his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor. Then he backed up those promises as few others have done. That he was a farmer brings honor and significance to our profession on this special holiday.
