Just think about how easy we have it these days, and just how much that everyone in the United States takes for granted what those men who signed their lives, and their families' lives, away for.
They weren't just going to lose their homes or be publicly humiliated if they didn't suceed, they were going to be drawn, hung, gutted while they were still alive, and quartered if they were caught.
Most of the signers and forefathers had nothing to gain, such as George Washington, but they had everything to lose.