Henry, Patrick

born May 29, 1736, Studley, Va.

died June 6, 1799, Red Hill, near Brookneal, Va., U.S.

American Revolutionary leader.

Admitted to the bar in 1760, he soon built a large and profitable practice. His skill as an orator was displayed in the Parson's Cause trial (1763). Elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1765, he opposed the Stamp Act; during the next decade he became a leader of the radical opposition to British rule. He was a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence and a delegate to the Continental Congress. At a Virginia assembly in 1775 he delivered his famous speech in defense of liberty, which concluded with the words "Give me liberty or give me death." He helped draft the state's first constitution in 1776 and was elected governor the same year (1776–79, 1784–86). As wartime governor, he ably supported Gen. George Washington; during his second term, he authorized the expedition of George Rogers Clark to invade the Illinois country. In 1788 he opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution, which he felt did not sufficiently secure the rights of states and individuals. He was later instrumental in the adoption of the Bill of Rights.

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▪ American statesman

born May 29 [May 18, old style], 1736, Studley, Va.

died June 6, 1799, Red Hill, near Brookneal, Va., U.S.

      brilliant orator and a major figure of the American Revolution, perhaps best known for his words “give me liberty or give me death,” which he delivered in 1775. He was independent Virginia's first governor (serving 1776–79, 1784–86).

      Patrick Henry was the son of John Henry, a well-educated Scotsman who served in the colony as a surveyor, colonel, and justice of the Hanover County Court. Before he was 10, Patrick received some rudimentary education in a local school, later reinforced by tutoring from his father, who was trained in the classics. As a youth, he failed twice in seven years as a storekeeper and once as a farmer; and during this period he increased his responsibilities by marriage, in 1754, to Sarah Shelton. The demands of a growing family spurred him to study for the practice of law, and in this profession he soon displayed remarkable ability. Within a few years after his admission to the bar in 1760 he had a large and profitable clientele. He was especially successful in criminal cases, where he made good use of his quick wit, his knowledge of human nature, and his forensic gifts.

      Meanwhile, his oratorical genius had been revealed in the trial known as the Parson's Cause (1763). This suit grew out of the Virginia law, disallowed by King George III, that permitted payment of the Anglican clergy in money instead of tobacco when the tobacco crop was poor. Henry astonished the audience in the courtroom with his eloquence in invoking the doctrine of natural rights, the political theory that man is born with certain inalienable rights. Two years later, at the capitol in Williamsburg, where he had just been seated as a member of the House of Burgesses (the lower house of the colonial legislature), he delivered a speech opposing the British Stamp Act. The act was a revenue law requiring certain colonial publications and documents to bear a legal stamp. Henry offered a series of resolutions asserting the right of the colonies to legislate independently of the English Parliament, and he supported these resolutions with great eloquence. “Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George III . . .” Here he was interrupted by cries of “Treason! treason!” But he concluded, according to a likely version, “. . . may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.”

      During the next decade Henry was an influential leader in the radical opposition to the British government. He was a member of the first Virginia Committee of Correspondence (Correspondence, Committees of), which aided intercolonial cooperation, and a delegate to the Continental congresses of 1774 and 1775. At the second Virginia Convention, on March 23, 1775, in St. John's Church, Richmond, he delivered the speech that assured his fame as one of the great advocates of liberty. Convinced that war with Great Britain was inevitable, he presented strong resolutions for equipping the Virginia militia to fight against the British and defended them in a fiery speech with the famed peroration, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”

      The resolutions passed, and Henry was appointed commander of the Virginia forces, but his actions were curbed by the Committee of Safety; in reaction, he resigned on Feb. 28, 1776. Henry served on the committee in the Virginia Convention of 1776 that drafted the first constitution for the state. He was elected governor the same year and was reelected in 1777 and 1778 for one-year terms, thereby serving continuously as long as the new constitution permitted. As wartime governor, he gave Gen. George Washington able support, and during his second term he authorized the expedition to invade the Illinois country under the leadership of George Rogers Clark.

      After the death of his first wife, Henry married Dorothea Dandridge and retired to life on his estate in Henry County. He was recalled to public service as a leading member of the state legislature from 1780 to 1784 and again from 1787 to 1790. From 1784 to 1786 he served as governor. He declined to attend the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787 and in 1788 was the leading opponent of ratification of the U.S. Constitution at the Virginia Convention. This action, which has aroused much controversy ever since, resulted from his fear that the original document did not secure either the rights of the states or those of individuals, as well as from his suspicion that the North would abandon to Spain the vital right of navigation on the Mississippi River.

      Henry was reconciled, however, to the new federal government, especially after the passage of the Bill of Rights (Rights, Bill of), for which he was in great measure responsible. Because of family responsibilities and ill health, he declined a series of offers of high posts in the new federal government. In 1799, however, he consented to run again for the state legislature, where he wished to oppose the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, which claimed that the states could determine the constitutionality of federal laws. During his successful electoral campaign, he made his last speech, a moving plea for American unity. He died at his home, Red Hill, before he was to have taken the seat.

Robert Douthat Meade

Additional Reading

Robert D. Meade, Patrick Henry, 2 vol. (1957–69), a full, authoritative treatment; William Wirt Henry, Patrick Henry: Life, Correspondence and Speeches, 3 vol. (1891, reprinted 1969), still valuable; Moses Coit Tyler, Patrick Henry (1915, reprinted 1966); David J. Vaughan, Give Me Liberty: The Uncompromising Statesmanship of Patrick Henry (1996, reprinted 2003); and Henry Mayer, A Son of Thunder: Patrick Henry and the American Republic (2001). David A. McCants, Patrick Henry, the Orator (1990), deals with Henry's speeches and rhetorical techniques.

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