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On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry delivered the speech made famous by its closing words – "give me liberty, or give me death! ... Henry began the speech to the Second Virginia Convention as follows:
The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. ...
It should not be ignored that Henry viewed the war of secession from England as "a question of freedom or slavery." As Charles Adams has argued in Those Dirty Rotten Taxes, the slavery which concerned those, like Henry, who fought the Revolution was tax slavery, as opposed to chattel slavery. ...
Before the speech to the Second Virginia Convention, which was convened, among other reasons, to select delegates to the Continental Congress which would later declare American independence, Patrick Henry earned fame for his oratory as an attorney, as well as in the House of Burgesses (the Virginia Legislature), where, in 1765, he challenged a British tax (the Stamp Act), defying King George III with the words "If this be treason, make the most of it."
After the colonies seceded from England, Patrick Henry served as the first governor of Virginia. ... Patrick Henry died on June 6, 1799. ...
As Patrick Henry continued, addressing the coming war with England,
Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. ... As Henry argued, the time for a principled resistance to the destruction of liberty is not some unknown, future time; the time is now, while there is liberty left to defend and before a people becomes entirely dependent upon government in its mentality.
Approximate Word count = 1183
Approximate Pages = 4.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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