Signing Their Lives Away Quotes

“So the Next time September 17 rolls around, eat a hot dog, watch some fireworks, and celebrate Constitution Day - that fateful date in 1787 when thirty-nine sweaty men dressed in stockings signed their names to the United States Constitution.”
― Denise Kiernan, Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence

“In a more dubious honor, he alone—out of all five of the signers from New Jersey—is honored with a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike.”
― Denise Kiernan, Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence

“The finish given to the style and arrangement of the Constitution, fairly belongs to the pen of Mr. Morris.” His pen gave the United States the beautiful, most oft-quoted words of the Constitution, the Preamble: “We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
― Denise Kiernan, Signing Their Rights Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the United States Constitution

“John Langdon lived to be seventy-eight years old (no small achievement at the time), and although he was exceptionally generous in financing the nation’s war, such contributions appear not to have threatened his prosperous way of life. George Washington was quoted as saying that Portsmouth had many fine houses, but “among them, Col. Langdon’s may be esteemed the first.” If you travel today to that picturesque seaside city, you may still visit Langdon’s stately Georgian mansion and surrounding gardens.”
― Denise Kiernan, Signing Their Rights Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the United States Constitution