William Whipple, American Hero We are used to thinking of the American Founding Fathers as heroes. They took on the British Empire, the greatest military force at the time, and defied a king. As representatives of their home communities, they took great risks to draft a document explaining the reasons to seek independence. Speaking out against the king was considered treason and would have resulted in financial ruin and even death for anyone caught.

For one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, though, the act of signing was more than just the act of rebellion we know all the signers for. For William Whipple, the signing was a commitment to liberty that few signers lived up to.

According to the book Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, William Whipple was born in Kittery, Maine, in 1730. William attended public school and took a job on a merchant ship shortly after finishing. His sea voyages were very successful, and when he retired from the sea he had made a small fortune.

With that fortune, William became a successful businessman in Portsmouth before the Revolution. In part because of his success in business, he was elected to represent his community at the state congress. In 1775, he was selected as a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He participated in the congress, ultimately signing his name, with many others, to the document that launched the rebellion.

War came shortly after the signing, and William was appointed to serve in the militia assigned to protect New Hampshire. At the time he began his military service, William owned a slave like most of his peers. The slave, named Prince, would have been expected to join William and serve with him in battle. As they were preparing to leave, Prince told William, "I have no freedom to fight for, sir." Seeing the truth in this, William is reported to have freed Prince immediately.

Today, we look back on history through a great fog of time, and with lenses clouded by our own modern values. Our Founding Fathers displayed admirable courage in crafting and signing such a brilliant claim to human liberty. The idea that all people were created equal and endowed with certain rights was revolutionary in every way. The idea that government's job was to protect this equality and these rights was also revolutionary. We can admire the signers' commitment to these principals, and also know that the issue of slavery divided the nation from the signing until long after the end of the Civil War. We would perhaps have had a different history if more of the signers, like Whipple, had seen the cruel irony in declaring the oppression of Britain unjust and at the same time oppressing an entire race of people.

Read this sentence from the text:

For William Whipple, the signing was a commitment to liberty that few signers lived up to.

What does the author imply the other signers failed to do?

Accept the risks of death and financial ruin
Join in the rebellion against Britain
Live according to the ideals of liberty
Sign when the document was done