Declaration Signers: Where Are They Now?, Part 2

Part 2 of 2

Virginia
George Wythe – Was accidentally killed by irony. A slave owner who eventually became an abolitionist, he freed his slaves. Rather than seeing his wealth go to others, his grand-nephew, George Sweeney, poisoned the about-to-be-freed slaves with arsenic, accidentally killing Wythe as well. Sweeney was acquitted, due mostly to a law in VA forbidding blacks from testifying, a law written by none other than George Wythe.
Thomas Jefferson – Duh
Benjamin Harrison  - Elector Governor of VA, his son, William Henry, was elected President
Richard Henry Lee – Elected Senator, became President Pro Temp of the Second Congress
Carter Braxton – Having invested giant sums of money in the Revolution, he lost his estate and had to move into a row house
Francis Lightfoot Lee  - Was a lot less interesting than his brother, Richard Henry
Thomas Nelson, Jr. – At the Battle of Yorktown, Cornwallis was hold up in Nelson’s house. Legend has it, he encouraged Washington open fire on his own estate, even offering a reward for the first man to hit the house.

South Carolina   
Thomas Lynch, Jr. – Got into a boat, with his wife, and sailed to the West Indies, where he mysteriously disappeared.
Edward Rutledge – Spent time as a POW during the war, was elected Governor of SC, and died upon hearing the sad news George Washington passed away
Arthur Middleton  - Went to prison alongside Rutledge, briefly served in Congress, and retired happily
Thomas Heyward, Jr. – On his way to prison, with Rutledge and Middleton, he fell overboard, keeping himself alive by holding onto the rudder until he could be rescued

Maryland   
Charles Carroll of Carrollton– Outliving Adams and Jefferson, he became the longest surviving signer at 95 years-old
William Paca – Appointed District Court Judge by President Washington
Thomas Stone – Gave up most of his later political career to care for his wife, who was dying of small pox.
Samuel Chase – Became the only Justice of the Supreme Court to be served with articles of impeachment. He was acquitted.

Connecticut  
Roger Sherman – Wrote the Connecticut Compromise, which laid the ground work for what is now the House of Representatives
Samuel Huntington – Served as president of the Continental Congress and Governor of CT
William Williams – Appointed a county court judge
Oliver Wolcott – Died in office, Governor of CT

North Carolina   
John Penn  - Ended up in a job called “Receiver of Taxes.” Sounds pretty sweet
William Hooper – Campaigning to ratify the Constitution exacerbated his already failing health and he died
Joseph Hewes – Finished out his term in the Continental Congress and died a bachelor, much to his regret (the bachelor part; he wasn’t alive to regret dying) 

New Jersey   
Francis Hopkinson – Spent most of his later life trying to take credit for such American symbols as the flag and the Seal of America, the one with the pyramid on the back of the one dollar bill.
John Witherspoon – Sited as one of the most energetic voices in Congress, pushing through the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution
John Hart – Offered up his farm as base camp to Washington’s troops before the Battle of Monmouth
Abraham Clark – Died from sunstroke. Fucking Jersey.
Richard Stockton – Captured by the British during the War, he was given the option of amnesty if he swore allegiance to the King. He refused and spent years being brutalized in prison. When he got out, his political career was stalled by persistent rumors that, despite the years of torture that prove otherwise, he signed the oath of allegiance. Way to sacrifice yourself for nothing, dude.