Button Who?!?

My second favorite thing about our 4th of July parties is our quiz. I spend the week before the party go over the questions that I have, deleting ones I don't like or are 'out of date', adding new ones, and quizzing my family until the are running when ever they see me coming.

Even though they do get tired of me, we do have fun at the beginning. :D And it never seems to fail that quizzing them for a few days will at least get me a dozen more questions. :D

One of the questions I ask, is one I asked yesterday.....Can you name three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence?

It never fails that in my family the first two will be--John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (I think they say the last one, just to see what I will do.) And from my parents and now my sisters the third one is Button Gwinnett.

At first it threw me for a loop, who is Button Gwinnett (and who would name their child Button?!?) Now I know he is the second person to have signed the Declaration of Independence and was from the colony of Georgia.

I think the two reason that they answer with Button Gwinnett is that 1) He was the second person to sign the document and 2) He has a different name. :D

Other then what I just mentioned I knew absolute nothing about the man. So, I decided to look him up. I figured there would be now harm in doing so and I might find a few questions that might stump my parents this 4th. :D

Here is what I have learned.....

Button Gwinnett was born in England around 1735. He came to America, residing briefly in Charleston, and in 1765 acquired a large tract of land in Georgia. Gwinnett enjoyed little success in farming or business, but found a footing in the revolutionary politics of his adopted colony. He was engaged in a long-standing political rivalry with Lachlan McIntosh, a soldier and leader who would attain highest rank in the Georgia militia and in state politics. Gwinnett was respected figure, however. In 1776 he was appointed commander of Georgia's continental militia (a post that he was forced to decline, owing to political faction), and also elected to attend the Continental Congress. Quite soon after he signed the Declaration, he returned home, where he hoped to gain appointment, once again, to the leadership of the Georgia militia. The appointment went instead to his rival. Gwinnett served in the Georgia legislature where he was involved in drafting a Constitution for the new state, but also in strenuous efforts to destroy the office of McIntosh. The legislature adjourned in February of 1777 and handed control over the Council of Safety. Gwinnett succeeded Archibald Bulloch as president of the council soon afterward. He then lead an abortive attempt to invade Florida, in order to secure Georgia's southern border. That adventure was thwarted by Lachlan McIntosh and his brother George, and Gwinnett was charged with malfeasance. He was cleared of wrongdoing as he ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor. Soon afterward, his honor challenged in public by McIntosh, he offered a duel. They met outside of Savanna on May 16, 1777, where both were wounded. McIntosh ultimately survived, Button Gwinnett died three days later at the age of 42.


There you go, a little bit about one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.