Speech in the Virginia Convention of Delegates | Patrick Henry

Plot summary

A fiery speech delivered on March 23, 1775 to support the Colonies’ effort to become independent. He urges Virginia to raise a militia.

Author and Date

• Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
• Greatest orator of the American Revolution
• Born in Virginia
• His father emigrated from Aberdeen, Scotland in 1730
• Prominent lawyer
• Christian man
• “The Bible is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed.”
• "The rising greatness of our country...is greatly tarnished by the general prevalence of deism, which, with me, is but another name for vice and depravity....I hear it is said by the deists that I am one of their number; and indeed that some good people think I am no Christian. This thought gives me much more pain than the appellation of Tory (being called a traitor), because I think religion of infinitely higher importance than politics....Being a Christian...is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast."
• “It cannot be emphasized too strongly that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity and freedom of worship here.”

à Is the same true in Islamic countries?

• Elected to Virginia House of Burgesses in 1765 at age 29
• Quickly becomes leader of radicals in the legislature
• In 1765, he supported “Virginia Resolves,” that only Virginia’s governor and legislature can tax Virginians
• In the House of Burgesses he challenged a British tax (the Stamp Act), defying King George III with the words "If this be treason, make the most of it."
• The speech below, delivered in 1775, is in support of armed resistance against the British on the part of Virginia
• No verbatim reports of the speech
• The slavery which concerned those, like Henry, who fought the Revolution was tax slavery, as opposed to chattel slavery.
• Today, Americans "indulge in the illusions of hope" by depending on the government, rather than their own hard work, to solve their problems.
• Serves in First Continental Congress in 1774
• July 1775, made commander of all Virginia troops
• Elected Governor of Virginia, first in 1776
• He served five terms, retiring in 1794
• Declined to serve in Constitutional Convention
• Foremost Antifederalist in the Colonies
• on the grounds that the Constitution would create a tyrannical federal government destructive of the liberties which had come at such a heavy price
• Loses this battle

· After retiring from the governorship, he turned down an offer to become Secretary of State under George Washington, an offer from to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a request to return as governor, and an offer from President Adams to serve on a mission to France.

• Dies in June 1799

Historical Background

- Seeds of self-government sown almost from founding of America

- British typically have hands-off policy through early years

- First Continental Congress (1774) – protests British taxation

o Sends list of grievances to King George III

o Wanted to revamp Empire, not break completely (Henry says this in his speech, but no choice)

- Second Continental Congress (May 1775) –

o By time it meets, British decide to reject American demands and put down rebellion by force

o British Blockade Boston

o The battles at Lexington and Concord took place less than a month

after Henry's speech, on April 19, 1775. At Lexington and

Concord, American colonists took up arms against their own government, whose troops had come to seize colonial guns and gunpowder.

à Interesting fact: “The City of London, whose merchants had been badly savaged by the loss of American trade, was a focal point of resistance to the government. Within days, members of the Constitutional Society meeting at the Kings Arms Tavern on Cornhill launched a subscription [fund-raiser] for the "relief of widows and orphans...of our beloved American fellow subjects...unhumanely murdered by the King's Troops

at or near Lexington and Concord."

- Declaration of Independence

Themes/Observations

- Power of oratory to rouse men’s emotions through the spoken world

o One thing even the great Jefferson lacked

o Goes to his knees as a manacled slave, then he bends to the earth with his hands still crossed, for a few seconds, then springs to his feet, shouting, “Give me liberty…” and then he beats his breast with an imaginary dagger

o Silence, then a man listening at an open window says, “Let me be buried on this spot!”

- Does Henry sound like a lawyer making his case?

- Henry's speech was delivered at St. John's Church in Richmond

- The slavery which concerned those, like Henry, who fought the Revolution was tax slavery, as opposed to chattel slavery

- Need to win people’s hearts before they would pick up bayonets

- His statement that "The war is actually begun!" is a reference to the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, when British troops, occupying to "keep order," killed five colonists at the head of an angry mob.

- Is there a Patrick Henry of today? Congressmen? Senators?

- Why does he choose this means to make his point?

- He later opposed the proposed Constitution. Why?

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