Our sacred honor.

Richard Stockton, NYPL

It's important to remember during the U.S. birthday party that the signers of the Declaration of Independence often paid a heavy price for signing the document. New Jersey signer Richard Stockton, the father-in-law of fellow signer and physician Benjamin Rush, was captured and imprisoned in nasty conditions by the British, who also burned his home and destroyed his library, which was considered one of the finest in the colonies. The intercession of Congress and George Washington was required to obtain his release in 1777, but the damage to his health had been done. He died an invalid in 1781.