Episode 719: Founding Fathers – Patrick Henry

The lives of these men are essential to understanding the American form of government and our ideals of liberty. The Founding Fathers all played key roles in the securing of American independence from Great Britain and in the creation of the government of the United States of America.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
On this episode of each World. The lives of these
men are essential to understand the American form of government
and our ideals of liberty. The Founding fathers all played
key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and
in the creation of the government of the United States
of America. And now the life of Thomas Paine. As

(00:35):
a young person, Patrick Henry accompanied his mother to sermons
given by evangelical Presbyterian Samuel Davies, whose oratorical skills had
a strong influence on him. Remember this was during the
Great Awakening, a period of enormous Protestant Revivalism which had
a deep impact. Grew in part out of the work

(00:56):
of the Wesley Brothers, the founding of the Methodist Church,
and the whole notion of individuals approaching God outside of
the established religions, whether Anglican or Catholic, became enormously deep
emotional power, both in Britain and in the United States.
And Patrick Henry was influenced by Samuel Davies, both in

(01:16):
his religion but also in rhetorical skills, in the ability
to weave words so that they had a magic effect.
He was the second son of John Henry, a Scottish
born planter, and Sarah Winston syn, a young widow from
a prominent family. He was born on May twenty ninth,
seventeen thirty six in Hanover County, Virginia. Back then, Hanover

(01:41):
County is pretty close to the frontier. We tend to
forget because we're used to a continent wide America that
in the early phases, the American colonies were really a
thin layer along the coast, and as you went towards
the Blue Ridge Mountains, you were beginning to get into
Indian country, and you're beginning to get into a very
different wilderness area. So that a lot of these folks

(02:03):
who grow up grow up not exactly on the frontier,
but near enough to the frontier to be vividly aware
of it. Up until the age of ten, Patrick Henry
was sent to a neighborhood school. Then his father opened
a grammar school in his own house, and Henry started
to attend and learn under his father. At the age
of fifteen, Henry began working as a clerk for a

(02:25):
local merchant. And let me say, by the way, I
think we'd be a lot better off to have a
lot of young people who are sitting around or standing
around on street corners actually having a job. I think
that in many ways, our effort to avoid children working
too early has meant that all too many children don't
work at all. But people like Patrick Henry, or for
that matter, Benjamin Franklin, started young, grew and learned, and

(02:49):
became important people. A year later, in seventeen fifty two,
Henry and his older brother opened their own shop. However,
it failed, but nonetheless noticed that at sixteen years of age,
he's out there as an entrepreneur. At the age of eighteen,
Henry married sixteen year old Sarah Shelton, whose dowry included
a six hundred acre farm, not a bad deal. His

(03:11):
first attempt as a planner ended when a fire destroyed
his house. In seventeen fifty seven, he attempted open a
store for a second time, and it was again unsuccessful.
Sometimes some of our greatest leaders and people who weren't
exactly have their greatest strengths in running a store. I
remember that Lincoln ends up with a partner and goes

(03:32):
broke as a young man and spends years paying off
the debt. By seventeen sixty, near Patrick Henry's twenty fourth birthday.
After all his previous attempts at making a living failed,
Henry decided to become a lawyer. I won't go into
my own biases here that once you failed everything else
you could become a lawyer, but nonetheless that's what he did.

(03:53):
Henry was barely prepared, but managed to persuade the panel
of Virginia attorneys that he was smart enough to obtain
admission to the bar. Remember, back then, you didn't have
the formal educational structure and the formal test that you
had to pass in order to become a lawyer. You
usually read under other lawyers, learned from them, and then
at some point were judged to be capable of representing

(04:15):
the law on your own. Within a few years after
his admission to the bar, he had a large and
profitable clientele. I think part of that was because he
really was articulate, and he really could weave words for
a jury, and he liked people. Just had a natural
proclivity for talking to people, and so folks knew that
he was approachable, they could take their problem to him,

(04:37):
and he tended to win the cases. One of the
most famous cases Henry argued was the Parsons cause case.
The Anglican Church in Virginia at the time was funded
through public revenues and clergymen were paid in tobacco. When
a severe drought caused shortages, the price of tobacco went
up from two cents per pound to six cents per pound.

(04:58):
In response, the Virginia let I Just Lecture passed a
two penny Act in seventeen fifty eight, which set the
value of the contracts that the clergyman got paid to
be the normal market price before the price of tobacco
went up. Well. That of course led to the clergyman's
salaries being pretty dramatically reduced. They thought they were going
to get six cents a pound. Now they were told

(05:18):
they're going to get two cents a pound. The clergy
appealed to authorities in England, who then overturned the law
and encouraged the ministers to sue for back pay. In
Hanover County, the Reverend James Morey sued his parish vestry
for back pay in December seventeen sixty three. A young
Patrick Henry argued on behalf of the vestry that England

(05:41):
changing the law was an overreach of British authority. Now
think about this in the context of how it's going
to evolve from here. Here he is in seventeen sixty
three arguing the following quote, The Act of seventeen fifty
eight had every characteristic give a good law, and a
king by a knowledge or disallowing acts of so solitary

(06:03):
a nature from being father of his people degenerated into
a tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects obedience.
Now think about this language, and by the way, in
the British system at that time, this could have counted
as treason. He says, degenerated into a tyrant. Remember he's
referring specifically to the King of England, forfeits all rights

(06:24):
to his subject's obedience. And this is over a simple
law involving the payment to clergy of tobacco. Henry persuaded
the jury to award May a minimum compensation of one penny.
Henry's role in the case helped launch his political career.
In seventeen sixty four, Henry moved to Louisa County, where
he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. He

(06:46):
was sworn into office on May twentieth, seventeen sixty five.
And this is a very very key time in American
history because later that month, that is May seventeen sixty five,
Parliament passes the Stamp Act. Now what was happening was
the British had spent a huge amount of money winning

(07:07):
the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War
was called in Britain, and in the French Indian War
they had conquered Canada, so that had eliminated the primary
threat of Indians. To the colonists. The British attitude was,
since we've now liberated you from this threat, we should
have your help in paying off the debts we ran
up during the war. The American colonist, of course, who

(07:29):
as Paul Johnson once said, probably had the lowest tax
rate of any people in civilized history, and resented every
penny of it. The colonists were not particularly grateful. They
figured the British king had won because that was to
his advantage and they had no interest in helping him
pay off the debt. So the Parliament passes the Stamp
Act in order to try to get money out of

(07:49):
the colonies to pay off the debt that had grown
up during the seven years war. Henry authors the Virginia
Stamp Acted Resolutions in response to the Stamp Act seventeen
sixty five. During heated debates in the House of Burgesses,
Henry compared King George the Third to both Julius Caesar
and Charles the First. Charles the Frost, remember, is the

(08:11):
English king who in the Civil War is beheaded, noting
that George might quote prophet by their example. Now what's
he saying saying? Well, Caesar, who of course is assassinated
by people who feared he was going to become a dictator,
and Charles the First, who literally had his head cut
off by his subjects. When you say somebody might profit
by their example, is kind of indirectly suggesting that the

(08:34):
king might in fact lose his head and his life
if he continues down this road. Henry introduced seven resolutions.
Five of those resolutions he introduced during the debate. The
fifth one was adopted by a marginal one vote, but
the next day, under pressure from the Governor, the House
of Burgesses rescinded the resolution and headed a race from

(08:55):
the official record. His fifth resolution read, to think about that,
because this is the very beginnings of the movement towards independence.
Quote resolved therefore, that the General Assembly of this Colony,
with the consent of His Majesty or his substitute, have
the sole riding authority to lay taxes and impositions upon

(09:16):
its inhabitants, And that every attempt to vest such authority
in any other person or persons whatsoever, has a manifest
tendency to destroy American freedom. Now, if two things are
important about this, the first is this is an assertion
that only the colonies can tax themselves, that London cannot

(09:37):
tax them. Second, notice, the word he uses doesn't talk
about Virginia to destroy American freedom, and it's one of
the earliest references that this is about to become an
American revolution, not just a colonial revolution of individual colonies.
Virginia's royal governor, Francis Fauquet, prevented the publications of all

(09:59):
seven of Henry's resolutions, including the one that was struck
from the record, from being published in the Virginia Gazette.
Despite the governor's attempts to suppress this information, within a
few weeks, Henry's resolutions were published in other colonies, including Maryland,
Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. He's beginning to get a national
audience for what he's saying and how he's doing it.

(10:22):
Henry continued to serve in the House of Burgesses throughout
the seventeen sixties. In the early seventeen seventies, in September
seventeen seventy four, Henry and six other Virginia delegates traveled
to the First Continental Congress. In all, fifty six delegates
from twelve colonies came to Philadelphia. Henry believed the colonies
were on the path to war and declared, quote, distinctions

(10:45):
between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more.
I am not a Virginian but an American. Now this
is a revolutionary statement. You'll notice that when you get
to the American Civil War some seventy years eighty years later.
At that point you have people say, well, I can't
Robbery leaves a good example. He breaks his oath as

(11:07):
a West Point graduate to side with Virginia. So he
didn't quite get what Patrick Henry was getting at, which
is that Henry was an American. Now he saw the
future as all the colonies working together, not as a
Virginia rebellion. But an American rebellion during their session in Philadelphia.

(11:44):
In this First Continental Congress, the group agreed to boycott
British goods within the colonies as a sign of protest.
They also called for an end to exports degree Britain
the following year if the intolerable acts were not repealed
by the way, as a great example of good word
use were intolerable. Now, who's going to be for an
intolerable act? While he attended the First Continental Congress, Henry

(12:07):
cared for his sick wife, Sarah. Henry became depressed and
violent after the birth of their sixth and last child
in seventeen seventy one. Rather than moving his wife to
an institution, Henry kept her at home and she was
carried by an enslaved servant. She died in early seventeen
seventy five. On March twenty third, seventeen seventy five, at

(12:27):
Saint John's Church in Richmond, Henry spoke at the Second
Virginia Convention in response to interference of the Royal Navy,
brought in from the King's appointed governor, Lord Dunmore. Henry
had discussed the need to formed armed militias in Virginia
in case British troops attempted to control the area. And
this is an important note about the American Revolution. It

(12:48):
is the existence of armed militias which enables the Americans
to stand up to the British. If they had not
had armed militias, the British would have crushed them easily.
And that's why they rode in the Second Amendment on
the right to bear arms, because they understood the difference
between an armed citizenry and a disarmed citizenry. It's not

(13:09):
exactly known what Henry said during the meeting, but years
later biographer William Wirt in eighteen seventeen reconstructed the speech
based on recollections of Thomas Jefferson and others in attendance.
The end of Ritz's recollection ended with the famous give
me liberty or give me deathline. It's actually unknown if
Henry actually said it, and that's pretty much drawing a line.

(13:33):
Rit's recollection of speech is this quote, no man thinks
more highly than I do of the patriotism as well
as abilities of the very worthy gentlemen who have just
addressed the house. But different men often see the same
subject in different lights, and Therefore, I hope it will
not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen. If entertaining as

(13:54):
I do, opinions of a character are very opposite to theirs.
I shall speak forth my sentiments freely, and thou reserve.
This is no time for ceremony. The question before the
House is one of awful moment to this country. For
my own part, I consider as nothing less than a
question of freedom or slavery, And, in proportion to the
magnitude of the subject, ought to be the freedom of

(14:15):
the debate. It is only in this way that we
can hope to arrive at truth and fulfill the great
responsibility which we hold to God in our country. Shall
I keep back my opinions at such a time, through
fear of giving offense? I should consider myself as guilty
of treason towards my country, of an act of disloyalty
towards the majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all

(14:37):
earthly kings. Mister President, it is natural to a man
to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt
to shut our eyes against a painful truth and listen
to the song of that siren child. He transforms us
into beasts. Is this the part of wise men engage
in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we

(14:58):
disposed to be of the number of those who, having
eyes see not, and having ears hear not the things
which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part,
whatever anguish or spirit it may cost, I am willing
to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and
to provide for it. I have but one lamp by

(15:18):
which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp
of experience. I know of no way of judging of
the future but by the past, and judging by the past.
I wish to know what there has been in the
conduct of the British Ministry for the last ten years
to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased
to solace themselves in the house. Is it that insidious

(15:39):
smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust
it not, sir, It will prove a snare to your feet.
Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask
yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with
those warlike preparations which cover our waters in darken our lamp,
our fleet in armies necessary to a work of love

(16:02):
and reconciliation. Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be
reconciled that force must be called in to win back
our love? Let us not deceive ourselves. These are the
implements of war and subjugation, the last arguments to which
kings resort. I asked, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array?
If its purpose be not to force us into submission?

(16:25):
Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive? For it has
Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world
to call for all this accumulation of armies and navies, No, sir,
she has none. They are meant for us. They can
be meant for no other. They are sent over to
bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British
Ministry have been so long forging. And what have we

(16:48):
to oppose them? Shall we try argument, sir? We have
been trying that for the last ten years? Have we
anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing? We've held
the subject up in every light of which it is capable,
but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort
to entreaty and humble supplication. What terms shall we find

(17:08):
which have not been already exhausted. Let us not, I
beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything
that can be done to avert the storm which is
now coming on. We have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we
have supplicated, We have prostated ourselves before the Throne and
have implored its inner position to arrest the tyrannical hands

(17:29):
of the ministry in Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted,
Our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult. Our supplications
have been disregarded, and we have been spurned with contempt
from the foot of the throne in vain. After these things,
may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation.

(17:49):
There is no longer any room for hope if we
wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate
those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending,
if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle
in which we've been so long engaged, in which we
have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object

(18:10):
of our contests shall be obtained, we must fight. I
repeat it, sir, we must fight. An appeal to arms
and to the God of hosts is all that has
left us. They tell us, sir, that we're weak on
able to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when
shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week
or the next year? Will it be when we are

(18:32):
totally disarmed? And what a British guard should be stationed
in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?
Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying
supinely on our backs and hugging the delucy fandom of
hope until enemies have bound us by hand and foot. Sir,
we are not weak if we make a proper use

(18:53):
of those means which the God of Nature hath placed
in our power. The millions of people armed in the
holy cause of liberty and in such a country as
that which we possess, are invincible by any force which
our enemy cancend against us. Besides, we shall not fight
our battles alone. There is a just God who presides
over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up

(19:15):
friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, Sir,
is not to the strong alone. It is to the vigilant,
the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election.
If we were base enough to desire it, it is
now too late to retire from the contest. There is
no retreat. But in submission and slavery, our chains are forged.

(19:37):
Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston.
The war is inevitable. And let it come. I repeat it, sir,
Let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate
the matter. Gentlemen may cry peace, peace, but there is
no peace. The war has actually begun. The next gale
that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears

(19:58):
the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in
the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it
the gentleman wish? What would they have? His life so dear,
or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the
price of chains and slavery. Forbid it, Almighty God. I
know not what course others may take. But as for me,

(20:21):
give me liberty or give me death. Now I'll tell you,
if you stand in that church, the very same church
he stood in and you read that out loud, you
will have chills. You will realize what a historic but
amazing moment this was, and what an extraordinary leader and

(20:41):
great orator he was. The convention passed the resolution to
four militias to defend Virginia. Virginia's royal Governor, John Murray,
dispatched a company of marines to seize the colonies munitions.
Days after British soldiers marched towards Luxington and conquered for
exactly the same purpose, angered the Virginias, and Henry led

(21:02):
his militia company towards Williamsburg to demand compensation for the
stolen gunpowder. In response, Murray issued a proclamation of May sixth,
seventeen seventy five, denouncing quote a certain Patrick Henry and
a number of deluded followers who have taken up arms
and put themselves in the posture of war. He also
directed quote all persons, upon their allegiance, not to aid

(21:26):
a bed or give countenance to the said Patrick Henry
close quote. Of course aught this did is It made
Patrick Henry really well known. It strengthened his reputation. The
governor had, in fact increased the power and the capacity
of his opponent. On May tenth, seventeen seventy five, Henry
attended the Second Continental Congress. Henry was asked to repair

(21:47):
the colony's final petition to the King, but his draft
was considered too radical. Frankly listened to that speech. You
can imagine why fellow Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee attempted
a second draft. The Congress opted for Pennsylvania's John Dickinson's draft,
which had a much gentler rhetoric. While Henry was in Philadelphia,

(22:07):
the Virginia Convention created two provincial regiments and elected Henry
colonel of the first Virginia Regiment and commander of the
overall militia. Henry tried to recruit and organize the troops,
but in December seventeen seventy five, William Woodford in the
second Virginia Regiment was sent to challenge the British Army
near Fort Norfolk in the Battle of Great Bridge. Henry,

(22:30):
after being passed over for leading the battle, decided to
resign his commission. Many of the soldiers he recruited threatened
to leave because Henry was leaving, but he persuaded them
to put the American cause first and accept their new leadership.
During the Virginia Convention of seventeen seventy six, Henry helped
to write Virginia's new constitution. Remember, these colonies become states

(22:51):
are all writing constitutions, which is great preparation a decade
later when they will have to go to Philadelphia to
write the Constitution the United States. So Henry's there in
seventeen seventy six helping write Virginia's new constitution, its declaration
of rights, and a resolution to Congress for posing independence.

(23:25):
On June twenty ninth, seventeen seventy six, Henry was chosen
as the first governor of Virginia. As governor, Henry worked
closely with George Washington to raise and equip forces. Henry
was reelected twice for one year terms and served as
governor until June seventeen seventy nine, when he was succeeded
by Thomas Jefferson. Henry remarried in October seventeen seventy seven,

(23:47):
and he and his second wife, Dorothy Dandridge, Henry had
eleven children together, adding to the six children from his
first wife. In seventeen seventy nine, Henry was elected to
the Virginia House of Delegates. During this time, Virginia politicians
were split into two factions, anti Federalists and Federalists. That is,
one side wanted to have a federal government in the

(24:08):
United States. The other side wanted to strengthen the states
and called themselves the anti Federalists because they didn't want
a strong central government. They wanted to continue the Articles
of Confederation, which were very weak and which really reposed
power in each individual state. Henry often found himself in
opposition to James Madison over the separation of church and state.

(24:29):
James Madison and Thomas Jefferson advocated strict separation of church
and successfully pushed for the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Henry,
on the other hand, advocated for state support for religious teachers.
Was governor of Virginia, he introduced a plan for a
tax to support Christian teachers, a plan that was vividly
opposed by Madison and Jefferson. Madison took this opportunity to

(24:51):
rally support for Jefferson's bill for establishing religious freedom, and
since Henry was denied to vote in the legislature since
he been elected governor, the bill passed Henry and Madison
also different in what role the federal government should play.
In seventeen eighty five, Henry push to strengthen the Articles
of Confederation. He told Madison to sketch out some plan

(25:11):
for giving greater powers the federal government and he would
supported on the floor. Madison, however, pushed from much more
centralized national government, so where Henry wanted to strengthen the
Articles of Confederation, Madison wanted to replace them. Henry was
elected but refused to attend the Constitutional Convention of seventeen
eighty seven, where the Articles of Confederation were supposed to

(25:33):
be revised. But in an amazing coup deetile by the way,
the Constitutional Convention decided they would replace the Articles, not
revise them. When Washington sent him a copy of the
Constitution and asked him to support it, Henry expressed concerns,
writing to Washington on October nineteen, seventeen eighty seven, quote,
I have to lament that I cannot bring my mind

(25:53):
to accord with the proposed Constitution. The concern I feel
in this account is really greater than I am able
to express. Perhaps mature reflection may furnish me with reasons
to change my present sentiments into a conformity with the
opinion of those personages for whom I have the highest reference.
In other words, Henry found himself in the awkward position
of turning down his fellow Virginian and the first great American,

(26:17):
George Washington. But he did turn him down. During the
Virginia Convention of seventeen eighty eight, aimed at ratifying the Constitution,
Henry and George Mason led the anti federalists in debate
against the plan, saying, and this is very important, because
you need to remember, this wasn't automatic. It was not
inevitable that we're going to end up with a centralized
government and with a Constitution of the United States as

(26:41):
opposed to a confederation of the individual states. So Henry
and Madison wrote, quote, what right had they to say,
we the people who authorized them to speak the language
of we the people instead of we the states. If
the states be not the agents of this compact, it
must be one great consolidated national government. I am not

(27:04):
free from suspicion. I am apt to entertain doubts. I
arose yesterday to ask a question which arose in my
own mind. When I asked the question I thought the
meaning of my interrogation was obvious. The fate of this
question in America may depend on this. Have they said
we the states? Have they made a proposal of a
compact between states? If they had, this would be a confederation.

(27:26):
It is otherwise most clearly a consolidated government. The question turns, Sir,
on that poor little thing, the expression we the people
instead of the states of America. I need not take
much pains to show that the principles of the system
are extremely pernicious, in politic and dangerous. Is this a
monarchy like England, a compact between prince and people, with

(27:50):
checks on the former to secure the liberty of the latter.
Is this a confederately like Holland? An association of a
number of independent states, each of which retain its individual sovereignty.
It is not a democracy when the people attain all
their rights securely. Had these principles been adhered to, we
should not have been brought to this alarming transition from
a confederacy to a consolidated government. We have no detail

(28:13):
of these great considerations, which, in my opinion, ought to
have abounded before we should recur to a government of
this kind. Here is a revolution as radical as that
which separated us from Great Britain. It is as radical
if in this transition our rights and privileges are endangered,
and the sovereignty of the states be relinquished. And cannot
we plainly see that this is actually the case. The

(28:35):
rights of conscience, trial by jury, liberty the press, all
your immunities, enfranchises, all pretensions to human rights and privileges
are rendered insecure, if not lost, by this change so
loudly talked of by some and inconsiderately by others. Is
this same relinquishment rights worthy of free men? Is it
worthy of that manly fortitude that ought to characterize Republicans?

(28:59):
It is said states have adopted this plan. I declare
that if twelve states and a half had adopted it,
I would, with manly firmness, and, in spite of an
erring world, reject it. You are not to inquire how
your trade may be increased, nor how you are to
become a great and powerful people, but how your liberties
can be secured, For liberty ought to be the direct

(29:20):
end of your government. Now, obviously, this is a huge
fight between those who want America to become a country
and those who want America to become a confederation of
independent states. On June fourth, seventeen eighty eight, in a
speech during the Virginia ratifying Convention later entitled a wrong
step now and the Republic will be lost forever, Henry said, quote,

(29:44):
I conceive the Republic to be in extreme danger. If
a wrong step be now made, the Republic may be
lost forever. If this new government will not come up
to the expectation of the people, their liberty will be lost,
and tyranny must and will arise. Henry was worried of
the powers that the executive branch would have, saying during
the Virginia Convention, quote, if you're American Chief, be a

(30:07):
man of ambition and abilities. How easy is it for
him to reduce himself absolute? The army is in his hands,
and where is the existing force to punish him? Can
he not, at the head of his army beat down
every opposition? What will then become of you and your
rights will not absolute despotism ensure. Despite this, Henry's opponents

(30:28):
went over enough moderate anti federalist to ratify the constitution
eighty nine to seventy nine. But think about that in
the largest state, the central state that ultimately was the
key to whether or not you could create a United States.
The margin was ten votes, eighty nine to seventy nine,
So even with Washington on the other side, even with

(30:48):
Jefferson on the other side, there were still seventy nine
Virginians who said no. In seventeen ninety one and ailing
Henry retired from active politics. In seventeen ninety three, Henry
worked with John Marshall to defend a Virginia physician in
lawsuit by a British merchant house to recover pre war debts.
Henry won, cementing his reputation as a lawyer. Washington in

(31:12):
seventeen ninety nine convinced Henry to return to politics after
the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions were passed. Henry stood again
for election to the Virginia House of Delegates in the
spring of seventeen ninety nine, and he delivered his last
public speech on his election day quote, If I am
asked what is to be done when the people feel
themselves intolerably oppressed? My answer is ready overturn the government.

(31:35):
Wait un least until some infringement is made upon your
rights that cannot be otherwise addressed. Otherwise, like failed republics
of the past, you might bid adio forever to representative government,
for you can never exchange the present government but for
a monarchy. Henry won the election, but he died on
June sixth, seventeen ninety nine, a few months before the

(31:57):
Assembly was to be convened. He was sixteenth three years old.
Henry left a small envelope of his last will and testament.
Inside in addition to his will was a single sheet
of paper with his seventeen sixty five resolutions against the
stampackt and on the back he left a brief message
about his resolutions. It says quote that within resolutions passed

(32:19):
the House of Burgesses in May seventeen sixty five, they
formed the first opposition to the Stamp Act and the
scheme of taxing America by the British Parliament. All the colonies,
either through fear or want of opportunity to form an opposition,
or from influence of some kind or other, had remained silent.
I had been for the first time elected a Burgess
a few days before, was young, inexperienced, unacquainted with the

(32:42):
forms of the House and the members that composed it.
Finding the men of weight, averse to opposition, and the
commencement of the tax at hand. And then no person
was elected to step forth. I determined to venture, and alone,
unadvised and unassisted, on a blank leaf of an old
law book, wrote the work. Upon offering them to the House,
violent debates ensued, many threats ruddered, and much abuse cast

(33:07):
on me by the party for submission. After a long
and warm contest, the resolutions passed by a very small majority,
perhaps of one or two only. The alarms spread throughout
America with astonishing quickness, and the ministerial party were overwhelmed.
The great point of resistance to British taxation was universally
established in the colonies. This brought on the war which

(33:28):
finally separated the two countries and gave independence to ours.
Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse will
depend upon the use our people make of the blessings
which a gracious God of the settlements. Pretty good line
for today too. On June fourteenth, seventeen ninety nine, the
Virginia Gazete announced the death of Patrick Henry, writing quote,

(33:51):
as long as our rivers flow, our mountains stand, Virginia
will say to rising generations, imitate my Henry. It's about
as good a cause for liberty, for freedom, for thinking clearly,
for having the courage to stand for what you believe,
as anything I've ever heard or read. And Patrick Henry
was essential in defining the cause of freedom, essential in

(34:14):
establishing that we had to be a country that was
free and courageous in his willingness to stand up when
necessary to the British King and unnecessary to George Washington.
He's a life worth studying and he was a remarkable
advocate for the freedom which we now cherish. Thank you
for listening to founding Father's Week on Newtsworld. You can

(34:37):
learn more about Patrick Henry on our show page at
newtsworld dot com. Newsworld is produced by gingridh three sixty
and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan and our
researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was
created by Steve Penley. Special thanks the team at Gingwish
three sixty. If you've been enjoying newswe I hope you'll

(35:01):
go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with five
stars and give us a review so others can learn
what it's all about right now. Listeners of news World
consign up for my three free weekly columns at Ginrich
three sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm at genrich. This
is Newtsworld.