Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death

On March 23, 1775, with war still a matter of debate, Patrick Henry rose before the Second Virginia Convention and argued that the time for petitions had passed. His closing words — "Give me liberty, or give me death!" — turned a meeting in a Richmond church into a call to arm the colony.

No transcript was taken; the famous text was reconstructed decades later from listeners' memories. Yet its effect was immediate: Virginia moved to raise troops, and the speech became the defining cry of American resistance, weeks before the first shots at Lexington.