Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry's most famous words — "Give me liberty, or give me death!" — may or may not have been recorded with perfect accuracy, but they captured something true about the man and his moment. Delivered before the Virginia Convention in March 1775, the speech urged Virginia to mobilize for war against Britain at a time when many still hoped for reconciliation. Henry had already established himself as the most electrifying orator in the colonies; this speech made him a legend and helped push Virginia — the most populous colony — decisively toward revolution.

Henry rose from rural obscurity entirely through the force of his words. As a young lawyer in 1763, his argument in the Parson's Cause — challenging the King's power to override colonial law — first brought him to public notice. Elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1765, he immediately introduced the Virginia Resolves against the Stamp Act, the most radical anti-British resolutions any colonial legislature had yet passed. He served five terms as governor of Virginia and was the dominant political voice in the state for a generation.

Henry's most consequential act may have been his opposition. He refused to attend the Constitutional Convention — declaring he "smelt a rat" in Philadelphia — and became the most formidable Anti-Federalist voice in Virginia's ratification fight, arguing the Constitution gave too much power to a distant central government. His pressure helped force the Bill of Rights into being. He declined the posts of Secretary of State, Chief Justice, and U.S. senator, preferring Virginia to Washington. He died in June 1799, months after his old rival and sometime ally George Washington.