Patrick Henry: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{shortShort description|American attorney,Founding planterFather, orator and politician; 1st and 6th Governor of Virginia(1736–1799)}}

{{Other uses}}

{{featuredFeatured article}}

{{ppPp-vandalism|small=yes}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=MarchJune 20222024}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Patrick Henry

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| term_start1 = July 5, 1776

| term_end1 = June 1, 1779

| predecessor1 = [[Edmund Pendleton]] {{small|(Actingacting)}}

| successor1 = [[Thomas Jefferson]]

| office2 = Member[[List of the<br>[[Virginiadelegates Houseto ofthe DelegatesContinental Congress|Delegate]]<br> from [[Henry County, Virginia]] {{awrap|Henryto the [[Continental CountyCongress]]}}

| term_start2 = 1779September 5, 1774

| term_end2 = 1784August 1, 1775

| birth_date predecessor2 = {{birth''Office date|1736|5|29}}established''

| successor2 = [[Thomas Nelson Jr.]]

| birth_place = [[Birthplace of Patrick Henry|Studley]], [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]], [[British America]]▼

| office3 = Member of the [[Virginia House of Delegates]]

| constituency3 = {{Plain list|

* [[Henry County, Virginia|Henry County]] (1779–1784)

* [[Prince Edward County, Virginia|Prince Edward County]] (1787–1790)

* [[Charlotte County, Virginia|Charlotte County]] (1799)

}}

| office4 = Member of the<br>[[Virginia House of Burgesses]]

| constituency4 = {{Plain list|

* [[Louisa County, Virginia|Louisa County]] (1765–1768)

* [[Hanover County, Virginia|Hanover County]] (1769–1776)

}}

| birth_date = {{OldStyleDateDY|May 29,|1736|May 18, 1736}}

▲| birth_place = [[Birthplace of Patrick Henry|Studley]], [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]], [[British America]]

| death_date = {{death date and age|1799|6|6|1736|5|29}}

| death_place = [[BrooknealRed Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial|Red Hill]], [[Charlotte County, Virginia]], U.S.

| party = {{Plain list|
* [[Anti-Federalism|Anti-Federalist]]<br
* />[[Anti-Administration party|Anti-Administration]]<br
* />[[Federalist Party|Federalist]]

}}

| spouse = {{marriage|[[Sarah Shelton Henry|Sarah Shelton]]|1754|1775|reason=died}}<br />{{marriage|Dorothea Dandridge|1777}}▼

| spouse = {{Plain list|

▲| spouse =* {{marriage|[[Sarah Shelton Henry|Sarah Shelton]]|1754|1775|reason=died}}<br />{{marriage|Dorothea Dandridge|1777}}

* {{marriage|[[Dorothea Dandridge Henry]]|1777}}

}}

| father = John Henry

| mother = [[Sarah Winston Syme Henry]]

| relatives = [[William Henry (brother of Patrick Henry)|William Henry]] (brother), [[Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell]] (sister), [[Annie Henry Christian]] (sister)

| profession = {{hlist|Politician|planter|lawyer}}

| signature = Patrick Henry Signature.svg

| alma_mater resting_place = [[CollegeRed ofHill WilliamPatrick &Henry MaryNational Memorial]] (tutelage only)

| allegiance = [[United Colonies]]

| branch = [[Virginia militia]]

| serviceyears = 1775–1776

| rank = * Colonel (1st [[Virginia Regiment]])

* Captain (Hanover County Militia)

| commands = * 1st Virginia Regiment

* Hanover County Militia

| battles = [[American Revolutionary War]]

| caption = Portrait by George Bagby Matthews after [[Thomas Sully]], {{circa| 1891}}

}}

'''Patrick Henry''' (May 29, 1736{{spnd}}June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the [[Virginia Conventions|Second Virginia Convention]] (1775): "[[Give me liberty, or give me death!]]" A [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father]], he served as the [[List of governors of Virginia|first and sixth]] post-colonial [[Governor of Virginia]], from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.▼

▲'''Patrick Henry''' (May 29, 1736 [<nowiki/>[[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]] May 18, 1736]{{spnd}}June 6, 1799) was an American attorneypolitician, planter, politician and orator known forwho declaringdeclared to the [[Virginia Conventions|Second Virginia Convention]] (1775): "[[Give me liberty, or give me death!]]" A [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father]], he served as the [[List of governors of Virginia|first and sixth]] post-colonial [[Governor of Virginia]], from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.

A native of [[Hanover County, Virginia]], Henry was for the most part educated at home. After an unsuccessful venture running a store, as well as assisting his father-in-law at [[Hanover Tavern]], he became a lawyer through self-study. Beginning his practice in 1760, Henry soon became prominent through his victory in the [[Parson's Cause]] against the Anglican clergy. He was elected to the Virginia [[House of Burgesses]], where he quickly became notable for his inflammatory rhetoric against the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act of 1765]].▼

▲A native of [[Hanover County, Virginia]], Henry was for the most partprimarily educated at home. After an unsuccessful venture running a store, as well as assisting his father-in-law at [[Hanover Tavern]], he became a lawyer through self-study. Beginning his practice in 1760, Henry soon became prominent through his victory in the [[Parson's Cause]] against the Anglican clergy. He was elected to the Virginia [[House of Burgesses]], where he quickly became notable for his inflammatory rhetoric against the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act of 1765]].

In 1774, Henry served as a delegate to the [[First Continental Congress]] where he signed the [[Petition to the King]], which he helped to draft, and the [[Continental Association]]. He gained further popularity among the people of Virginia, both through his oratory at the convention and by marching troops towards the colonial capital of [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]] after the [[Gunpowder Incident]] until the munitions seized by the royal government were paid for. Henry urged independence, and when the [[Fifth Virginia Convention]] endorsed this in 1776, he served on the committee charged with drafting the [[Virginia Declaration of Rights]] and the original [[Constitution of Virginia|Virginia Constitution]]. Henry was promptly elected governor under the new charter and served a total of five one-year terms.

After leaving the governorship in 1779, Henry served in the [[Virginia House of Delegates]] until he began his last two terms as governor in 1784. The actions of the national government under the [[Articles of Confederation]] made Henry fear a strong federal government, and he declined appointment as a delegate to the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|1787 Constitutional Convention]]. He actively opposed the ratification of the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]], both fearing a powerful central government and because there was as yet no [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]]. He returned to the practice of law in his final years, declining several offices under the federal government. A [[Slavery in the United States|slaveholder]] throughout his adult life, he hoped to see the institution end but had no plan beyond ending the importation of slaves. Henry is remembered for his oratory and as an enthusiastic promoter of the fight for independence.

==Early life (1736–1759)==

Henry was born on the family farm, [[Birthplace of Patrick Henry|Studley]], in Hanover County in the [[Colony of Virginia]], on May 29, 1736.<ref name=a>{{cite web|first=Thad|last=Tate|title=Henry, Patrick|work=[[American National Biography Online]]|date=February 2000|url=http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-00396.html|access-date=October 8, 2017|url-access=subscription }}</ref> His father was John Henry, an immigrant from [[Aberdeenshire]], Scotland, who had attended [[King's College, Aberdeen|King's College]], University of Aberdeen, before emigrating to Virginia in the 1720s.{{sfn|Meade|pp=13–18}} Settling in Hanover County in about 1732, John Henry married [[Sarah Winston Syme Henry|Sarah Winston Syme]], a wealthy widow from a prominent local family of English ancestry.{{sfn|Meade|pp=21–24}}

Patrick Henry shared his name with his uncle, an [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] minister, and until the elder Patrick's death in 1777 often went as Patrick Henry Jr.{{sfn|Kukla|p=13}} Henry attended a local school until about the age of 10. There was no academy in Hanover County, and he was tutored at home by his father.{{sfn|Kidd|p=9}} The young Henry engaged in the typical recreations of the times, such as music and dancing, and was particularly fond of hunting.{{sfn|Kidd|p=12}} Since the family's stock, considerable lands, and slaves would pass to his older half-brother John Syme Jr., {{sfn|Mayer|p=32}} due to the custom of [[primogeniture]], Henry needed to make his own way in the world. At age 15, he became a clerk for a local merchant and a year later opened a store with his older brother [[William Henry (brother of Patrick Henry)|William]]. The store was not successful.<ref name = "a" /> His sisters were pioneer and writer [[Annie Henry Christian]] and [[Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell]], a Methodist lay leader.<ref name="Terry">{{Cite web |last=Terry |first=Gail S. |date=2006 |title=Annie Henry Christian |url=https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.php?b=Christian_Annie_Henry |access-date=October 18, 2021 |website=Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Library of Virginia |archive-date=October 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018082738/https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.php?b=Christian_Annie_Henry |url-status=live }}</ref>

The religious revival known as the [[Great Awakening]] reached Virginia when Henry was a child. His father was staunchly Anglican, but his mother often took him to hear [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] preachers. Although Henry remained a lifelong Anglican communicant, ministers such as [[Samuel Davies (clergyman)|Samuel Davies]] taught him that it is not enough to save one's own soul, but one should help to save society. He also learned that oratory should reach the heart, not just persuade based on reason.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=13–23}} His oratorical technique would follow that of these preachers, seeking to reach the people by speaking to them in their own language.{{sfn|Kidd|p=37}}

Religion played a key role in Henry's life; his father and namesake uncle were both devout and were both major influences in his life. Nevertheless, he was uncomfortable with the role of the Anglican Church as the established religion in Virginia, and he fought for religious liberty throughout his career. Henry wrote to a group of [[Baptists in the United States|Baptists]] who had sent a letter of congratulations following Henry's 1776 election as governor, "My earnest wish is, that Christian charity, forbearance and love may unite all different persuasions as brethren."<ref name = "henrychrist" /> He criticized his state of Virginia, feeling that slavery and lack of religious toleration had retarded its development. He told the [[Virginia Ratifying Convention]] in 1788, "That religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, and therefore all men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the [[Freedom of religion|free exercise of religion]] according to the dictates of conscience, and that no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others."<ref name = "henrychrist">{{cite web|last=Wells|first=James M.|title=The Christian Philosophy of Patrick Henry|url=http://www.christianhistorysociety.com/henrythesis1.html|access-date=November 16, 2017|publisher=Christian History Society|archive-date=July 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703223229/http://christianhistorysociety.com/henrythesis1.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Shelton House - Shenk.jpg|thumb|right|View of [[Rural Plains]] near Totopotomoy Creek in Virginia. Henry was reportedly married to Sarah Shelton in the parlor.]]

In 1754, Henry married Sarah Shelton, reportedly in the parlor of her family house, [[Rural Plains]]. (It also became known as Shelton House.) As a wedding gift, her father gave the couple six slaves and the {{convert|300|acre|km2|adj=on}} [[Pine Slash|Pine Slash Farm]] near [[Mechanicsville, Virginia|Mechanicsville]]. Pine Slash was exhausted from earlier cultivations, and Henry worked with the slaves to clear fresh fields. The latter half of the 1750s were years of drought in Virginia, and after the main house burned down, Henry gave up and moved to the Hanover Tavern, owned by Sarah's father.{{sfn|Mayer|pp=45–48}}

Henry often served as host at Hanover Tavern as part of his duties and entertained the guests by playing the fiddle. Among those who stayed there during this time was [[Thomas Jefferson]], aged 17, en route to his studies at the [[College of William & Mary]], and who later wrote that he became well acquainted with Henry then, despite their age difference of six years.{{sfn|Mayer|p=50}} At the behest of Jefferson, Henry occasionally attended lectures at the [[College of William & Mary]], where he was briefly under the tutelage of St. George Tucker.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=John Pendleton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3dXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA120 |title=Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt |date=1856 |publisher=Blanchard and Lea |language=en}}</ref> Jefferson in 1824 told [[Daniel Webster]], "Patrick Henry was originally a bar-keeper", a characterization that Henry's biographers have found to be unfair; that his position was more general than that, and that the main business of Hanover Tavern was serving travelers, not alcohol. [[William Wirt (Attorney General)|William Wirt]], Henry's earliest biographer, rejects Jefferson's suggestion that Henry's profession was a bartender but notes it would have been "very natural in Mr. Henry's situation" to do what was necessary to ensure that guests were properly seen to.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=31–32}}

== Revolutionary lawyer and politician (1760–1775) ==

===Parson's Cause (1760–1763)===

While at Hanover Tavern, Henry found time to study the law. How long he did so is unclear; he later said it was as little as a month. On the advice of a local lawyer, Henry in 1760 applied for a lawyer's license, appearing before the examiners—prominent attorneys in the colonial capital of Williamsburg. The examiners were impressed by Henry's mind even though his knowledge of legal procedures was scant. He passed in April 1760, and he thereafter opened a practice, appearing in the courts of Hanover and nearby counties.<ref name = "a" />{{sfn|Kukla|pp=30–40}} Henry became a skilled lawyer because in court "he displayed quick wit, knowledge of human nature, and forensic gifts."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gruberg|first1=Marin|title=Patrick Henry|url=https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1164/patrick-henry%20the%20original|publisher=The First Amendment Encyclopedia presented by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies|access-date=August 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828201423/https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1164/patrick-henry|archive-date=August 28, 2023|url-status=live|year=2009}}</ref>

The droughts of the 1750s had led to a rise in the price of tobacco. Hard currency was scarce in Virginia, and salaries in the colony were often expressed in terms of pounds of tobacco. Prior to the drought, the price of tobacco had long been two[[Penny (British pre-decimal coin)|pence]] per pound (0.45 kilograms) and in 1755 and 1758, the Virginia House of Burgesses, the elected lower house of the colonial legislature, passed the [[Two Penny Act]], allowing debts expressed in tobacco to be paid at the rate of twopence per pound for a limited period.{{sfn|Campbell|p=28}} These payees included public officials, including Anglican clergy—Anglicanism was Virginia's established church, andchurch—and several ministers petitioned the [[Board of Trade]] in London to overrule the Burgesses, which it did. Five clergymen then brought suit for back pay, cases known as the Parson's Cause; of them, only the Reverend [[James Maury]] was successful, and a jury was to be empaneled in Hanover County on December 1, 1763, to fix damages. Henry was engaged as counsel by Maury's parish [[vestry]] for this hearing.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=39–41}} Patrick Henry's father, Colonel John Henry, was the presiding judge.{{sfn|McCants|p=40}}

[[File:Parson's Cause by Cooke.jpg|thumb|left|''Patrick Henry Arguing the Parson's Cause'' by [[George Cooke (painter)|George Cooke]]]]

After the evidence was presented proving the facts at issue, Maury's counsel gave a speech in praise of the clergy, many of whom were in attendance. Henry responded with a one-hour speech, ignoring the question of damages, but which focused on the unconstitutionality of the veto of the Two Penny Act by the king's government. Henry deemed any king who annulled good laws, such as the Two Penny Act, as a "tyrant" who "forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience", and the clergy, by challenging an impartial law designed to bring economic relief, had shown themselves to be "enemies of the community".{{sfn|McCants|pp=118–119}} The opposing counsel accused Henry of treason, and some took up that cry, but Henry continued, and the judge did nothing to stop him.{{sfn|McCants|p=119}} Henry urged the jury to make an example of Maury, for the benefit of any who might seek to imitate him, and suggested the jury return damages of [[History of the British farthing|one farthing]].{{sfn|Kukla|p=45}} The jury was out for only moments and fixed damages at one penny. Henry was hailed as a hero. According to biographer Henry Mayer, Henry had "defined the prerogatives of the local elite by the unorthodox means of mobilizing the emotions of the lower ranks of religious and political outsiders."{{sfn|Mayer|p=66}} Henry's popularity greatly increased, and he added 164 new clients in the year after the Parson's Cause.{{sfn|Campbell|p=37}}

===Stamp Act (1764–651764–1765)===

[[File:Patrick Henry Rothermel.jpg|thumb|upright|''Patrick Henry's "Treason"Before speechthe beforeVirginia the [[House of Burgesses]] in an'' (1851 painting) by [[Peter F. Rothermel]]]]

In the wake of the Parson's Cause, Henry began to gain a following in backwoods Virginia because of his oratory defending the liberties of the common people and thanks to his friendly manner. He boosted his standing further in 1764 by representing Nathaniel West Dandridge, elected for Hanover County, in an election contest before the Burgesses. Dandridge was alleged to have bribed voters with drink, a practice common but illegal. Henry is said to have made a brilliant speech in defense of the rights of voters, but the text does not survive. Henry lost the case but met influential members on the Committee of Privileges and Elections, such as [[Richard Henry Lee]], [[Peyton Randolph]] and [[George Wythe]].{{sfn|Kidd|pp=46–48}} In 1765, William Johnson, the brother of Thomas Johnson (who had been one of Henry's clients in the Parson's Cause) resigned as burgess for [[Louisa County, Virginia|Louisa County]]. As Henry owned land in the county (acquired from his father to settle a loan), he was eligible to be a candidate, and he won the seat in May 1765. He left immediately for Williamsburg as the session had already begun.{{sfn|Mayer|pp=69–70}}

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Patrick Henry was sworn into a sleepy session of the legislature on May 20; many of the members had left town. On about May 28, a ship arrived with an urgent letter from Montague: the Stamp Act had passed. On May 29, Henry introduced the [[Virginia Resolves|Virginia Stamp Act Resolves]].{{sfn|Kidd|p=58}} The first two resolutions affirmed that the colonists had the same rights and privileges as Britons; the next two stated that [[No taxation without representation|taxation should be exacted only by one's representatives]]. The fifth was the most provocative, as it named the Virginia legislature, the [[Virginia General Assembly|General Assembly]], as the representatives of Virginia empowered to tax. Two other resolutions were offered, though their authorship is uncertain.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=53, 58–59}} Edmund and Helen Morgan, in their account of the Stamp Act crisis, suggest that Henry saw the Stamp Act as both a threat to Virginians' rights and an opportunity to advance himself politically.{{sfn|Morgan and Morgan|p=305}}

{{Quote box

There are no verbatim transcriptions of Henry's speech in opposition to the Stamp Act. Texts are reconstructions, for the most part based on recollections decades later, by which time both the speech and Henry had become famous. For example, Jefferson, still in his studies at the nearby College of William & Mary, recalled the splendor of Henry's oratory.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=51–53}} No attempt was made to reconstruct Henry's words until 1790, when [[James Madison]] wrote to former burgess [[Edmund Pendleton]], but Madison learned that Pendleton had not been present; a second attempt did not occur until Wirt began work on his biography of Henry in 1805. A French traveler whose name is not known and whose journal was discovered in 1921{{sfn|Morgan and Morgan|p=94}} recorded at the time of Henry's speech that "one of the members stood up and said that he had read that in former times [[Lucius Tarquinius Priscus|Tarquin]] and [[Julius Caesar|Julius]] had their [[Marcus Junius Brutus|Brutus]], [[Charles I of England|Charles]] had his [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]], and he did not doubt but some good American would stand up, in favour of his country".{{sfn|Kidd|pp=51–53}} As Henry had seemingly called for the killing of King [[George III]], there were cries of "Treason!" in the chamber, including by Speaker [[John Robinson (Virginia politician, born 1705)|John Robinson]]. [[John Tyler Sr.]] (father of the future president), who was standing with Jefferson as they watched the session, called this one of "the trying moments which is decisive of character", and both recalled that Henry did not waver: "If this be treason, make the most of it!".{{sfn|Kukla|p=71}}▼

| quote = If this be treason, make the most of it!

| author = — Henry addressing the Virginia House of Burgesses

| width = 16%

}}

▲There are no verbatim transcriptions of Henry's speech in opposition to the Stamp Act. Texts are reconstructions, for the most part based on recollections decades later, by which time both the speech and Henry had become famous. For example, Jefferson, still in his studies at the nearby College of William & Mary, recalled the splendor of Henry's oratory.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=51–53}} No attempt was made to reconstruct Henry's words until 1790, when [[James Madison]] wrote to former burgess [[Edmund Pendleton]], but Madison learned that Pendleton had not been present; a second attempt did not occur until Wirt began work on his biography of Henry in 1805. A French traveler whose name is not known and whose journal was discovered in 1921{{sfn|Morgan and Morgan|p=94}} recorded at the time of Henry's speech that "one of the members stood up and said that he had read that in former times [[Lucius Tarquinius Priscus|Tarquin]] and [[Julius Caesar|Julius]] had their [[Marcus Junius Brutus|Brutus]], [[Charles I of England|Charles]] had his [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]], and he did not doubt but some good American would stand up, in favour of his country".{{sfn|Kidd|pp=51–53}} As Henry had seemingly called for the killing of King [[George III]], there were cries of "Treason!" in the chamber, including by Speaker [[John Robinson (Virginia politician, born 1705)|John Robinson]]. [[John Tyler Sr.]] (father of the future president), who was standing with Jefferson as they watched the session, called this one of "the trying moments which is decisive of character", and both recalled that Henry did not waver: "If this be treason, make the most of it!".{{sfn|Kukla|p=71}}

The Burgesses adopted the first five resolutions—the two others, which denied the right of any other body but the General Assembly to tax Virginians and which branded anyone who stated that Parliament had that right an enemy of the colony, were not passed.{{sfn|Kidd|p=53}} According to the Morgans, the passed resolutions differed little from language in petitions sent by the Burgesses to London in 1764, and the opposition to Henry may have been in part because he was an upstart in Virginia politics.{{sfn|Morgan and Morgan|p=97}} On May 31, with Henry absent and likely returning home, the Burgesses expunged the fifth resolution, and Royal Governor [[Francis Fauquier]] refused to allow any of them to be printed in the official newspaper, the ''[[The Virginia Gazette#Historical papers|Virginia Gazette]]''. With the official texts of the passed resolutions denied them, newspapers in the colonies and in Britain printed all seven resolutions, all of them presented as the resolves of the influential Colony of Virginia. The resolutions, more radical as a group than what was actually passed, reached Britain by mid-August, the first American reaction to the passage of the Stamp Act. In North America, they galvanized opposition to the Stamp Act and made Virginia the leader in opposition to Parliament's action.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=73–79}} According to Thad Tate in Henry's ''American National Biography'' article, "Not only in Virginia but across the mainland British colonies, Henry quickly established his reputation as an uncompromising opponent of imperial policy."<ref name = "a" /> The Morgans note "In Virginia the Stamp Act provided the opportunity for Patrick Henry's spectacular entry into politics".{{sfn|Morgan and Morgan|pp=204–305}}

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Henry invested some of his earnings in frontier lands, in what is now the western part of Virginia, as well as in present-day West Virginia and Kentucky. He claimed ownership though many of them were controlled by the Native Americans, and he sought to get the colonial (and, later, state) government to recognize his claims. This was common among Virginia's leading citizens, such as [[George Washington]]. Henry foresaw the potential of the [[Ohio River|Ohio Valley]] and was involved in schemes to found settlements. Income from land deals in 1771 enabled him to buy [[Scotchtown (plantation)|Scotchtown]], a large plantation in Hanover County, which he purchased from John Payne, the father of [[Dolley Madison]]—she lived there for a brief time as a child. Scotchtown, with 16 rooms, was one of the largest mansions in Virginia.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=72–73}}

Owning estates such as Henry's meant owning slaves; Henry was a lifelong slaveholder from the time of his marriage at age 18.{{sfn|Kidd|p=15}} Despite this, Henry believedprofessed that slavery was wrong and hopedexpressed hopes for its abolition, but he had no plan for doing so nor for the multiracial society that would result, for he did not believe schemes to settle freed slaves in Africa were realistic, "to re-export them is now impracticable, and sorry I am for it."{{sfn|Kukla|pp=100–102}} He wrote in 1773, "I am the master of slaves of my own purchase. I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living here without them. I will not, I cannot justify it."{{sfn|Kukla|p=124}} But the number of slaves he owned increased over time and as a result of his second marriage in 1777, so that at his death in 1799, he owned 67 slaves.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=15–16}} In 1778, Henry and othersother soughtplanters, believing there to endbe theira surplus of slave labor in Virginia, easily brought the transatlantic importation of new enslaved Africans to Virginiaan end.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Broadwater |first=Jeff |title=Madison, James and succeededSlavery in|url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/madison-james-and-slavery/ 1778|access-date=February 23, 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |language=en-US |archive-date=February 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224161232/https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/madison-james-and-slavery/ They|url-status=live assumed}}</ref> thatThe inplanters sosupported doingthe effort to limit slave imports for their own economic reasons and for fear of slave rebellions, but they weredid fightingnot slaveryseek abolition of slaves already in Virginia,<ref>{{Cite butweb |last=McBurney |first=Christian |date=September 14, 2020 |title=The First Efforts to Limit the African Slave Trade Arise in the generationAmerican afterRevolution: independencePart 2 of 3, The Middle and Southern Colonies |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/09/the-first-efforts-to-limit-the-african-slave-trade-arise-in-the-american-revolution-part-2-of-3-the-middle-and-southern-colonies/ births|access-date=February greatly23, exceeded2024 deaths|website=Journal of the American Revolution |language=en-US |archive-date=February 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223071110/https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/09/the-first-efforts-to-limit-the-african-slave-trade-arise-in-the-american-revolution-part-2-of-3-the-middle-and-southern-colonies/ |url-status=live }}</ref> although moving towards abolition said to be a reason for passing the act. With a surplus of slaves and the ability to import more African slaves cut off, Virginia later became a source of slaves sold south in the [[coastwise slave trade]].{{sfn|Kukla|p=125}}

===Renewed involvement and First Continental Congress (1773–1775)===

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{{listen

| filename = Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death - read by Bob Gonzalez for LibriVox's Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 026 (2012).ogg

| title = <{{center>|"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death"<br><small>Read by Bob Gonzalez for LibriVox</small></center>}}

| description = <{{center>|Audio 00:08:51 ([https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Give_me_liberty_or_give_me_death full text])</center>}}

| pos = right

| type = speech

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{{quote|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! 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 is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is 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, give me liberty or give me death!{{sfn|Kidd|p=52}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!|publisher=Colonial Williamsburg Foundation|access-date=September 16, 2017|url=http://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/giveme.cfm|archive-date=September 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916164524/http://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/giveme.cfm|url-status=live}}</ref>

}}

As he concluded, Henry plunged an ivory letter[[Paper openerknife|paper cutter]] towards his chest in imitation of the Roman patriot [[Cato the Younger]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Patrick Henry's Red |title=Paper Cutter |url=https://www.redhill.org/paper-cutter/ |access-date=April 22, 2024 |website=Patrick Henry's Red Hill |language=en-US |archive-date=December 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203232553/https://www.redhill.org/paper-cutter/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Henry's speech carried the day, and the convention adopted his amendments.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=170–172}} Still, they passed only narrowly, as many delegates were uncertain where the resistance urged by Henry and other radicals would lead, and few counties formed independent militia companies at the urging of the convention.{{sfn|McDonnell|pp=44–45}}

The text of Henry's speech first appeared in print in Wirt's 1817 biography, published 18 years after Patrick Henry's death.{{sfn|Raphael|p=147}} Wirt corresponded with men who had heard the speech and others who were acquainted with people who were there at the time. All agreed that the speech had produced a profound effect, but it seems that only one person attempted to render an actual text. Judge [[St. George Tucker]], who had been present for the speech, gave Wirt his recollections and Wirt wrote back stating that "I have taken almost entirely Mr. Henry's speech in the Convention of '75 from you, as well as your description of its effect on your verbatim." The original letter with Tucker's remembrances has been lost.{{sfn|Raphael|p=148}}

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For 160 years Wirt's account was taken at face value. In the 1970s, historians began to question the authenticity of Wirt's reconstruction.<ref>Judy Hemple, "The Textual and Cultural Authenticity of Patrick Henry's 'Liberty or Death' Speech," ''Quarterly Journal of Speech'' 63 (1977): 298–310; see Ray Raphael, ''Founding Myths,'' 311 note 7 for additional discussions among historians.</ref> Contemporary historians observe that Henry was known to have used fear of Indian and slave revolts in promoting military action against the British and that, according to the only written first-hand account of the speech, Henry used some graphic name-calling that Wirt did not include in his heroic rendition.{{sfn|Raphael|pp=145–156, 311–313}} Tucker's account was based upon recollections and not notes, several decades after the speech; he wrote, "In vain should I attempt to give any idea of his speech".{{sfn|Raphael|p=149}} Scholars have argued to what extent the speech we know is the work of Wirt or Tucker.{{sfn|Raphael|p=148}}

=== Gunpowder incident (1775) ===

[[File:Patrick Henry broadside.jpg|thumb|right|Royal proclamation against Henry, 1775]]

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Henry saw no action himself, and there were murmurs in the convention against his command; some feared he was too radical to be an effective military leader. In February 1776, Virginia's forces were reorganized as they were placed under Continental command. Henry was to retain his rank of colonel but was placed under a former subordinate. Henry refused and left the army; his troops were outraged by the slight to him and considered leaving service, but he calmed the situation.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=201–204}}

== Independence and first time as governor (1776–1779) ==

Henry did not sit in the Fourth Virginia Convention which met in December 1775,{{sfn|Campbell|pp=172–173}} as he was ineligible because of his military commission.{{sfn|Kukla|p=201}} Once he was again a civilian, the freeholders of Hanover County in April 1776 elected him to the [[Fifth Virginia Convention|fifth convention]], to meet the following month.{{sfn|Campbell|p=196}} Most delegates were for independence but were divided on how and when to declare it. Henry introduced a resolution declaring Virginia independent and urging the Congress to declare all the colonies free. When he at last spoke, according to clergyman [[Edmund Randolph]], Henry "appeared in an element for which he was born. To cut the knot, which calm prudence was puzzled to untie, was worthy of the magnificence of his genius. He entered into no subtlety of reasoning but was roused by the now apparent spirit of the people as a pillar of fire, which notwithstanding the darkness of the prospect would conduct to the promised land."{{sfn|Kidd|pp=121–122}} The eventual resolution was based in large part on Henry's and passed unanimously on May 15, 1776. As well as declaring Virginia independent, the resolution instructed the state's delegates in Congress to press for American independence, which they would, with Lee introducing the motion and Jefferson penning [[United States Declaration of Independence|the Declaration]].{{sfn|Kidd|p=122}}

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Henry was taken ill almost immediately upon being sworn in as governor on July 5 and recuperated at Scotchtown. He returned to Williamsburg in September and corresponded with General Washington about the military situation. Washington, who was less effective because of the inadequacies of his troops, complained about the state militias, feeling a [[Continental Army]] committed for the duration of the war was needed. Henry helped recruit new troops for Washington, but his efforts were hampered by several issues, including the weakness of Henry's office. In December 1776, with the General Assembly alarmed at reports Washington's army was in retreat as the British occupied Philadelphia, legislators granted Henry temporary expanded powers, something that Jefferson was still unhappy about years later, feeling that Henry was trying to set himself up as dictator. In March 1777, Henry wrote to Washington seeking permission to recruit soldiers for terms of up to eight months. Washington's anger in his response that such troops were not useful caused Henry to drop the matter, stating that he deferred to Washington's experience in military matters. Recruiting remained a problem; many Virginians were willing to be members of the county militia but did not want to join the Continental Army lest they be sent out of state or exposed to disease.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=129–135}}{{sfn|McDonnell|p=258}} Desertion was also a problem Henry labored to solve with limited success; many Virginians had been induced to enlist with promises they would not be sent outside the state or local area, and they left when orders came to march.{{sfn|McDonnell|p=266}}

Henry was elected to a second one-year term without opposition and took the oath on July 2, 1777. On October&nbsp;25 9 at Scotchtown, he married [[Dorothea Dandridge Henry|Dorothea Dandridge]], daughter of his old client, Nathaniel West Dandridge of Hanover County.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Foundation|first=Red Hill {{!}} Patrick Henry Memorial|title=Patrick Henry's Family|url=https://www.redhill.org/patrick-henry/patrick-henrys-family/|access-date=August 27, 2021|website=Red Hill {{!}} Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation|language=en-US|archive-date=April 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412034014/https://www.redhill.org/patrick-henry/patrick-henrys-family/|url-status=live}}</ref> This made him closer kin to Washington, as Nathaniel Dandridge was [[Martha Washington]]'s uncle.{{sfn|Campbell|pp=247–248}} To add to the six children he had by Sarah Henry, he would have eleven more by Dorothea, though two by the second marriage died very young. She brought 12 slaves with her, adding to the 30 Patrick Henry already had. He sold Scotchtown in 1777 and moved to [[Leatherwood Plantation]] in [[Henry County, Virginia|Henry County]], which the General Assembly had just created and named for him.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=138–139}}

When Washington and his troops encamped [[Valley Forge National Historical Park|at Valley Forge]] in the winter of 1777–78, Henry arranged for livestock and other food to be sent to their relief. There was discontent against Washington, who was not seen by some as a successful general, and this resulted in the so-called [[Conway Cabal]]. Henry supported Washington when Dr. [[Benjamin Rush]] of Philadelphia, one of those unenthusiastic about Washington, sent the governor an unsigned letter, discussing machinations against the general. Henry immediately sent Washington the letter, and though it is uncertain if Henry recognized Rush's handwriting, Washington did, tipping him off to the conspiracy. President Washington wrote of Henry in 1794, "I have always respected and esteemed him; nay more, I have conceived myself under obligation to him for the friendly manner in which he transmitted to me some insidious anonymous writings in the close of the year 1777 with a view to embark him in the opposition that was forming against me at that time".{{sfn|Kukla|pp=233–238}}

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Henry's second time as governor was for two years, as the legislature re-elected him in 1785.{{sfn|Campbell|p=320}} It was, generally, more placid than his first. During this time, Henry and his family lived at "[[Salisbury (Chesterfield County, Virginia)|Salisbury]]", in [[Chesterfield County, Virginia|Chesterfield County]], about {{convert|13|mi}} from Richmond{{sfn|Campbell|pp=320–321}} in open country that he rented, though he had an official residence close to the [[Virginia State Capitol|Virginia Capitol]], which was then under construction. The General Assembly had passed legislation for new arms for the militia, and Henry worked with [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Lafayette]] to have them sent from France.{{sfn|Mayer|pp=364–365}}

Each county's militia was under firm local control, a state of affairs that had resulted in problems during the war as local militia refused orders from Henry and other governors when asked to serve out of state or conscript recruits into the Continental Army. In 1784, seeking to bring the militias under central control, the General Assembly passed an act terminating all militia officer commissions and allowing Henry, with the consent of the Governor's Council, to appoint replacements. The Virginia Constitution required that there be a recommendation from the county court. Instead of asking the county court, Henry solicited recommendations from prominent citizens in each county whom he or his council members knew. The result was near- revolt in the counties, as citizens protested the act as unconstitutional, and counties refused to obey. The law went widely unenforced, and in October 1785, Henry requested the legislators to repeal it; they complied the following year.{{sfn|McDonnell|pp=506–513}}

Residents of western North Carolina, what is today the state of Tennessee, sought to separate and become the [[State of Franklin]]. A former delegate, [[Arthur Campbell (Virginia soldier)|Arthur Campbell]], wanted to join Virginia's adjacent [[Washington County, Virginia|Washington County]] as part of the scheme in 1785. Henry had Campbell removed as a militia officer and from his other county offices, as well as ousting Campbell's supporters, replacing them with residents of known loyalty.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=286–287}} Although Henry urged leniency in his report to the General Assembly that October, stating that the Washington County separatists had been led astray by anxiety because of the poor economy,{{sfn|Mayer|p=366}} he had the legislature pass a Treason Act forbidding the setting-up of a rival government within Virginia territory.{{sfn|Kukla|p=287}}

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When the Philadelphia convention adjourned in September 1787, its president, Washington, returned home and immediately sent a copy of the new [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] to Henry, recommending he support it. Henry was in Richmond for the autumn legislative session as delegate for Prince Edward County. While thanking Washington for presiding in Philadelphia and for sending the document, he said of it, "I have to lament that I cannot bring my Mind to accord with the proposed Constitution. The Concern I feel on this account is really greater than I am able to express."{{sfn|Kukla|p=307}} He hinted, though, that he was still open to changing his mind. This allowed Henry to remain noncommittal as opponents of the Constitution, such as Mason and Edmund Randolph (both delegates at Philadelphia) published their opinions, and to refine his views.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=307–310}} In the initial Virginia battle over the Constitution, the call for a convention to decide whether the state should ratify it, Henry and Mason were among those who supported allowing the convention to ratify it conditional on amendments being made. The matter was compromised with language allowing the convention's members full rein in deciding what to do, and it was set for June 1788, with elections in March; both those who supported it and those who did not felt time would be to their advantage.{{sfn|Mayer|pp=381–382}}

Henry was elected to the convention from Prince Edward County without difficulty, though [[John Blair Smith]], president of Hampden-Sydney, caused him some annoyance by having students read at an assembly, in Henry's presence, a speech by Henry on the subject of the Constitution and Smith's own rebuttal.{{sfn|Mayer|p=391}} Henry opposed the Constitution because of its grant of a strong executive, the president; he had not fought to free Virginia from King George to surrender such powers to what might prove a despot. Henry accordingly deemed the Constitution a backwards step and a betrayal of those who had died in the Revolutionary cause.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=191–192}} At the [[Virginia Ratifying Convention]], which began on June 2, 1788,{{sfn|Kukla|p=321}} according to Kidd, Henry's "personality blazed in all its power and glory."{{sfn|Kidd|p=194}} Henry suggested that the framers of the Constitution had no right to begin it "We the People" and ignore the powers of the states. He suggested that the document put too much power in the hands of too few.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=194–195}} He noted that the Constitution, proposed without a [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]], did not protect individual rights,:

{{quote|Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings—give us that precious jewel and you may take everything else. But I fear I have lived long enough to become an old-fashioned fellow. Perhaps an invincible attachment to the dearest rights of man may, in these refined, enlightened days, be deemed old-fashioned: if so, I am contented to be so.{{sfn|Campbell|p=340}}}}

Madison, the lead supporter of the Constitution, was inhibited in replying to Henry's criticisms, since he was ill through most of the convention. Henry likely realized he was fighting a losing battle as sentiment in the convention moved towards ratification, but he continued to speak at length,{{sfn|Kidd|pp=200–201}} and his speeches fill nearly one-quarter of the pages of the Richmond convention's debates.{{sfn|Campbell|p=335}} Governor Randolph, who had become a supporter of ratification, suggested that if the convention allowed Henry to continue arguing, it would last six months rather than six weeks.{{sfn|Kidd|p=201}} After the convention voted on June 25<ref>{{Cite web|last1=M. A.|first1=History|last2=B. A.|first2=History|title=The Order in Which the States Ratified the US Constitution|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/ratification-order-of-constitution-105416|access-date=July 15, 2020|website=ThoughtCo|language=en|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108001653/https://www.thoughtco.com/ratification-order-of-constitution-105416|url-status=live}}</ref> to ratify the Constitution, Henry was somewhat mollified by the fact that the convention had proposed about 40 amendments; some of them were later incorporated in the Bill of Rights. Mason, Henry's ally in opposing ratification, intended a fiery diatribe on the faults of the new plan of government; he was talked out of it. By one account, Henry told other opponents that he had done his duty in opposing ratification, and as republicans, with the issues settled in a democratic way, they had best all go home. Madison wrote to Washington that Henry still hoped for amendments to weaken the power of the federal government, possibly to be proposed by a second national convention.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=207–208}}

Henry returned to the House of Delegates where he successfully defeated Madison's effort to become federal senator from Virginia, for under the original Constitution senators were elected by legislators, not the people. Although Henry made it clear he would not serve in office outside Virginia, he received a number of votes in the election. Madison gained election to the House of Representatives in a district where he was opposed by [[James Monroe]], though Madison's supporters complained that Henry's supporters in the legislature had unfairly placed Orange County, Madison's home county, in a district leaning anti-Federalist. Henry also saw to it that the requested amendments were incorporated in petitions from the legislature to the federal Congress. Despite his qualms, Henry served as one of Virginia's presidential electors, voting for Washington (elected President) and John Adams (elected Vice President).{{sfn|Campbell|pp=375–377}} Henry was disappointed when the [[1st United States Congress|First Congress]] passed only amendments dealing with personal liberties, not those designed to weaken the government.{{sfn|Campbell|pp=378–379}}

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== Later years ==

[[File:Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial - his fame his best epitaph.jpg|thumb|left|Graves of Patrick Henry and his wife Dorothea in the family burying ground at [[Red Hill. Patrick's isHenry onNational theMemorial|Red right;Hill]]. theHenry's inscription reads, "His fame his best epitaph".]]▼

Leaving the House of Delegates after 1790, Henry found himself in debt, owing in part to expenses while governor, and sought to secure his family's fortune through land speculation and a return to the practice of law. Not fully reconciled to the federal government, Henry contemplated a new republic in the sparsely- settled frontier lands, but his plans came to nothing.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=218–221}} He did not travel as widely for cases as he had in the 1760s, confining his practice mostly to Prince Edward and Bedford counties, though in a compelling case, or for a large enough fee, he would travel to Richmond or over the mountains to [[Greenbrier County, West Virginia|Greenbrier County]] (today in West Virginia).{{sfn|Mayer|p=463}}

When the new federal court opened in Virginia in 1790, British creditors promptly filed over a hundred cases seeking to enforce claims from the Revolutionary War. Henry was part of the defense team in ''Jones v. Walker'' before the federal court in 1791; his co-counsel included [[John Marshall]], who prepared the written pleadings while Henry did much of the courtroom advocacy. Henry argued the case for three days; Marshall, looking back, called him "a great orator&nbsp;... and much more, a learned lawyer, a most accurate thinker, and a profound reasoner".{{sfn|Kukla|pp=370–372}} The case ended inconclusively after one of the judges died, but the legal teams reassembled for the case of ''[[Ware v. Hylton]]''. Argued before another three-judge panel that included [[Chief Justice of the United States]] John Jay and Associate Justice [[James Iredell]], Henry's argument provoked Justice Iredell to exclaim, "Gracious God! He is an orator indeed."{{sfn|Kukla|pp=372–373}} Henry and Marshall were initially successful, but the plaintiffs appealed, and after Marshall argued his only case before the Supreme Court, that court in 1796 ruled for the British creditors.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=373–374}}▼

▲When the new federal court opened in Virginia in 1790, British creditors promptly filed over a hundred cases seeking to enforce claims from the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. Henry was part of the defense team in ''Jones v. Walker'' before the federal court in 1791; his co-counsel included [[John Marshall]], who prepared the written pleadings while Henry did much of the courtroom advocacy. Henry argued the case for three days; Marshall, looking back, called him "a great orator&nbsp;... and much more, a learned lawyer, a most accurate thinker, and a profound reasoner".{{sfn|Kukla|pp=370–372}} The case ended inconclusively after one of the judges died, but the legal teams reassembled for the case of ''[[Ware v. Hylton]]''. Argued before another three-judge panel that included [[Chief Justice of the United States]] John Jay and Associate Justice [[James Iredell]], Henry's argument provoked Justice Iredell to exclaim, "Gracious God! He is an orator indeed."{{sfn|Kukla|pp=372–373}} Henry and Marshall were initially successful, but the plaintiffs appealed, and after Marshall argued his only case before the Supreme Court, that court in 1796 ruled for the British creditors.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=373–374}}

Henry's friendship with Washington had cooled somewhat amid the ratification debates, but by 1794, both men were looking to reconcile. Henry found himself more aligned with Washington than with Jefferson and Madison, and Washington still considered himself indebted to Henry for notifying him about the Conway Cabal. Washington offered Henry a seat on the Supreme Court in 1794, but he refused, feeling his family needed him. Washington also tried to get Henry to accept positions as Secretary of State and as minister to Spain, and Virginia Governor [[Henry Lee III|"Light-Horse" Harry Lee]] wanted to appoint him to the Senate. Henry refused each time. Henry's continuing popularity in Virginia made him an attractive ally, and even Jefferson tried to recruit him, sending word though a mutual friend that he bore no grudge.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=224–229}} After Washington made it clear he would not seek a third term in 1796, Marshall and Lee discussed a possible Henry run for president with him, but Henry was unwilling. The General Assembly elected him as governor again that year, but he declined, citing age and health. Henry's refusal to accept these offices increased his popularity as he was, like Washington, seen as a [[Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus|Cincinnatus]], giving up power to return to his farm and his plow.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=234–236}}▼

▲Henry's friendship with [[George Washington|Washington]] had cooled somewhat amid the ratification debates, but by 1794, both men were looking to reconcile. Henry found himself more aligned with Washington than with [[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]] and [[James Madison|Madison]], and Washington still considered himself indebted to Henry for notifying him about the Conway Cabal. Washington offered Henry a seat on the Supreme Court in 1794, but he refused, feeling his family needed him. Washington also tried to get Henry to accept positions as Secretary of State and as minister to Spain, and Virginia Governor [[Henry Lee III|"Light-Horse" Harry Lee]] wanted to appoint him to the Senate. Henry refused each time. Henry's continuing popularity in Virginia made him an attractive ally, and even Jefferson tried to recruit him, sending word though a mutual friend that he bore no grudge.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=224–229}} After Washington made it clear he would not seek a third term in 1796, Marshall and Lee discussed a possible Henry run for president with him, but Henry was unwilling. The General Assembly elected him as governor again that year, but he declined, citing age and health. Henry's refusal to accept these offices increased his popularity as he was, like Washington, seen as a [[Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus|Cincinnatus]], giving up power to return to his farm and his plow.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=234–236}}

▲[[File:Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial - his fame his best epitaph.jpg|thumb|left|Graves of Patrick Henry and his wife Dorothea in the family burying ground at Red Hill. Patrick's is on the right; the inscription reads, "His fame his best epitaph".]]

Henry sold his property in Prince Edward County in 1792, moving with his family to Long Island, a plantation in [[Campbell County, Virginia|Campbell County]]. In 1794, Henry purchased [[Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial|Red Hill]] near [[Brookneal, Virginia]] in [[Charlotte County, Virginia|Charlotte County]], where he and his family lived much of the year, though they moved to Long Island in the "sickly season".{{sfn|Campbell|p=388}} Henry was gratified at the election of his old friend John Adams as president in 1796 over his foe Jefferson, but Henry's commitment to the [[Federalist Party]] was tested by the repressive [[Alien and Sedition Acts]] of 1798. He chose to say nothing but supported the campaign of Marshall, a moderate Federalist, for the House of Representatives; Marshall won narrowly. Henry was under considerable pressure from Virginia Federalists to return to politics, but it was not until former President Washington urged him to run for the legislature in early 1799 that Henry gave in.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=239–239}} Turning down an offer from President Adams to make him an envoy to France, Henry was elected as delegate from Charlotte County on March 4, 1799.

Henry sold his property in [[Prince Edward County, Virginia|Prince Edward County]] in 1792, moving with his family to Long Island, a plantation in [[Campbell County, Virginia|Campbell County]]. In 1794, Henry purchased [[Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial|Red Hill]] near [[Brookneal, Virginia]] in [[Charlotte County, Virginia|Charlotte County]], where he and his family lived much of the year, though they moved to Long Island in the "sickly season".{{sfn|Campbell|p=388}} Henry was gratified at the election of his old friend John Adams as president in 1796 over his foe Jefferson, but Henry's commitment to the [[Federalist Party]] was tested by the repressive [[Alien and Sedition Acts]] of 1798. He chose to say nothing but supported the campaign of Marshall, a moderate Federalist, for the House of Representatives; Marshall won narrowly. Henry was under considerable pressure from Virginia Federalists to return to politics, but it was not until former president Washington urged him to run for the legislature in early 1799 that Henry gave in.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=239–239}} Turning down an offer from President Adams to make him an envoy to France, Henry was elected as delegate from Charlotte County on March 4, 1799. The legislature had no immediate session scheduled, so he returned to Red Hill and never left again, dying there of [[Intussusception (medical disorder)|intussusception]] in at his home on June 6, 1799.<ref>{{Cite web|title=VMHB.ph|url=https://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/henriques/hist615/vmhb.htm|access-date=August 27, 2021|website=chnm.gmu.edu|archive-date=November 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128230055/https://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/henriques/hist615/vmhb.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Patrick Henry: Champion of Liberty {{!}} AMERICAN HERITAGE|url=https://www.americanheritage.com/patrick-henry-champion-liberty|access-date=August 27, 2021|website=www.americanheritage.com}}</ref> He was buried at Red Hill.{{sfn|Campbell|p=418}} In Henry's will, he left his estates and his 67 slaves to be divided between his wife and his six sons. He did not free any slaves, despite his speeches against enslavement by tyrants and despite his various comments opposing the institution of slavery itself.<ref>{{cite web|title=Henry's Will|url=https://www.redhill.org/biography/henrys-will|access-date=January 14, 2018|publisher =[[Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial]]|archive-date=November 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101124817/https://www.redhill.org/biography/henrys-will|url-status=live}}</ref>

The tributes to Henry upon his death were many. The ''Virginia Gazette'' printed a death notice bordered in black, "As long as our rivers flow, or mountains stand, Virginia&nbsp;... will say to rising generations, imitate my H&nbsp;{{small|E&nbsp;N&nbsp;R&nbsp;Y}}".{{sfn|Kukla|p=393}} The ''Petersburg Intelligencer'' regretted the death of a man who might have been able "to conciliate all parties and produce that harmony and accord" needed at a time of national controversy.{{sfn|Kukla|p=393}} The ''Argus'', a paper which supported Jefferson's faction, noted that Henry "pointed out those evils in our Constitution&nbsp;... against which we now complain&nbsp;... If any are disposed to censure Mr. Henry for his late political transition [to supporting the Federalists], if anything has been written on that subject, let the [[Genius (mythology)|Genius]] of American Independence drop a tear, and blot it out forever."{{sfn|Mayer|p=474}}

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==Monuments and memorials==

[[File:Red Hill Charlotte County Virginia 1907.jpg|thumb|right|[[Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial|Red Hill Plantation]], [[Charlotte County, Virginia]], circa 1907]]

Several of Henry's homes are recognized for their association with him. [[Scotchtown (plantation)|Scotchtown]] Plantation is a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref>{{cite web|title=National Historic Landmarks Program|publisher=National Park Service|url=https://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/va/VA.pdf|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=August 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801102536/https://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/va/VA.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial]] preserves Henry's final home, gravesite, and his law office.<ref>{{cite web|title=Red Hill—The Patrick Henry National Memorial|url=https://www.redhill.org/about/redhill|publisher=Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=October 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018173036/https://www.redhill.org/about/redhill|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Birthplace of Patrick Henry|site of his birthplace]], which burned in 1807 and is now reduced to archaeological remains, is also preserved;<ref>{{cite web|title=Studley|url=http://roadtorevolution.com/studley/|publisher=Road to Revolution Heritage Trail Consortium|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=March 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320184759/http://roadtorevolution.com/studley/|url-status=live}}</ref> it is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/va/hanover/vacant.html|title=Virginia – Hanover County – Vacant / Not In Use |publisher=[[National Register of Historic Places]]|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=August 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806040151/http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/va/hanover/vacant.html|url-status=live}}</ref> A plaque placed by the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]] marks the site of Leatherwood in Henry County.<ref>{{cite web|publisher = [[Daughters of the American Revolution]]|access-date=September 21, 2017|title=Patrick Henry Monument|url=https://www.dar.org/national-society/historic-sites-and-properties/patrick-henry-monument|archive-date=March 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329230057/https://www.dar.org/national-society/historic-sites-and-properties/patrick-henry-monument|url-status=live}}</ref>

Henry helped found Hampden-Sydney College, believing that "every free state" should promote "useful knowledge amongst its citizens".<ref name = "sydney" /> He was an original trustee and sent seven of his sons there. Henry was instrumental in getting its charter passed by the General Assembly in 1783.<ref name = "sydney" >{{cite web|title=Hampden-Sydney|url=http://roadtorevolution.com/hampden-sydney-college/|publisher=Road to Revolution Heritage Trail Consortium|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=October 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026154702/http://roadtorevolution.com/hampden-sydney-college/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Emory and Henry College]] in [[Emory, Virginia]] was named for him and [[John Emory]], an early bishop in Virginia. According to the college, "Bishop Emory symbolizes belief in the union of faith and learning, while Governor Henry represents the commitment to the ideals of freedom and civic virtue."<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Emory and Henry College]]|url=http://www.ehc.edu/about/history-mission-culture/history/|title=History of the College|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=September 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929024543/http://www.ehc.edu/about/history-mission-culture/history/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Fort Henry (West Virginia)|Fort Henry]] stood in what is now [[Wheeling, West Virginia]], but was at the time part of Virginia. It was built in 1774 and named Fort Fincastle after one of Lord Dunmore's titles but was renamed for Henry, then governor, after independence.<ref>{{cite web|last=Brooks|first=A.B.|title=Story of Fort Henry|url=http://www.wvculture.org/history/journal_wvh/wvh1-2.html|publisher=West Virginia Archives and History|date=January 1940|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=September 19, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000919233648/http://www.wvculture.org/history/journal_wvh/wvh1-2.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Fort Patrick Henry was built during the American Revolutionary War along the [[Holston River|South Fork Holston River]] at the present-day site of [[Kingsport, Tennessee]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Nance|first=Benjamin C.|title=Fort Patrick Henry|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=493|access-date=September 21, 2017|encyclopedia=Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture|archive-date=September 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922003706/http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=493|url-status=live}}</ref> This fort serves as the namesake of [[Fort Patrick Henry Dam]] and its reservoir on the river.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tva.com/sites/fortpatrickhenry.htm|title=Fort Patrick Henry Reservoir|publisher=Tennessee Valley Authority|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=July 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702094215/http://www.tva.com/sites/fortpatrickhenry.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> At least threefour ships have been named in Henry's honor: the passenger and freight [[Packet boat|packet]] ship ''[[Patrick Henry (packet)|Patrick Henry]]'', the Civil War [[Confederate States Navy|Confederate Navy]] [[steamboat]] {{ship|CSS|Patrick Henry}}, [[World War II]] [[Liberty ship]] {{SS|Patrick Henry}} and the [[ballistic missile submarine]] {{USS|Patrick Henry|SSBN-599}}.

[[Camp Patrick Henry]] was a World War II-era military camp near [[Newport News, Virginia]]. Decommissioned in 1946, it became the site of the [[Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport]] on {{convert|925|acre|km2}}. When opened in 1949, the airport was called Patrick Henry Field and was later renamed Patrick Henry International Airport, a name it retained until 1990. The airport code is still PHF.<ref>{{cite web|title=Existing Conditions|url=http://flyphf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D_PHF-CH-1-Existing-Conditions.pdf|publisher=Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport]|pages=1–6 through 1–8|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=August 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806043819/http://flyphf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D_PHF-CH-1-Existing-Conditions.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<!--Title was 'US Post Office Department' in 1955 -->

Patrick Henry has been honored twice on U.S. postage stamps. On October 7, 1955, the [[United States Post Office Department]] issued a $1 [[definitive stamp]] honoring Henry, one of the high values in the [[Liberty issue]]. A painting of Henry by American artist [[Alonzo Chappel]] was used as the inspiration and as the model by the engraver for this issue.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2029097|title=Arago: 1-dollar Henry|publisher=[[National Postal Museum]]|first=Steven J.|last=Rod|date=May 16, 2006|access-date =September 21, 2017|archive-date=November 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105053221/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2029097|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1960–1961, the U.S. Post Office issued the American Credo series, six stamps with well-known patriotic quotations. Patrick Henry's most famous words are inscribed on the final issue in the series, a 4-cent stamp first released in Richmond on January 11, 1961.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2032849|title=4-cent Henry quotation|publisher=[[National Postal Museum]]|first=Rod |last=Juell|date=November 3, 2008|access-date=September 21, 2017|archive-date=November 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105053151/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2032849|url-status=live}}</ref>

{| style="margin:1em auto;"

<center>

{|

|[[File:Patrick Henry .1955-$1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Patrick Henry, [[Liberty issue]], 1955]]

|[[File:Credo Liberty or Death.jpg|thumb|upright=1.24|1961 issue honoring Henry in the American Credo series]]

|}

</center>

== Legacy and historical view ==

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==See also==

*[[Gerrymandering in the United States]]▼

*[[History of Virginia]]

*[[William H. Roane]] (grandson)

*[[William Wirt Henry]] (grandson)

==Notes==

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===Primary sources===

* WilliamCouvillon, Wirt HenryMark, ed. ''Patrick Henry,: Life,Corrections Correspondence,of andbiographical Speechesmistakes...'' (18911996), 3 vol.)Brookneal, reprintsVirginia: muchPatrick ofHenry theMemorial existing primaryFoundation. sourceISBN material1-931196-10-9

* Elson, James M., ed. (2007) ''[https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Patrick_Henry_in_His_Speeches_and_Writin/TnkrAQAAIAAJ?hlid=en&gbpv=0TnkrAQAAIAAJ Patrick Henry in his Speeches and Writings and in the Words of his Contemporaries]''. (2007), Lynchburg, Virginia: Warwick House Publishers. {{ISBN|9780979036750}}]

* Henry, William Wirt, ed. ''Patrick Henry, Life, Correspondence, and Speeches'' (1891, 3 vol.), reprints much of the existing primary source material

==External links==

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[[Category:18th-century American lawyers]]

[[Category:18th-century American politicians]]

[[Category:18th-century American planters]]

[[Category:People of Virginia in the American Revolution| ]]

▲*[[GerrymanderingCategory:Founding inFathers of the United States]]

[[Category:American people of English descent]]

[[Category:American people of Scottish descent]]

[[Category:American slave owners]]

[[Category:Anti-Federalists]]

[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Virginia]]▼

[[Category:Clan Henderson|Patrick Henry]]

[[Category:Continental Congressmen from Virginia]]

[[Category:Dandridge family of Virginia]]

[[Category:Deaths from stomach cancer]]

[[Category:Delegates to the Virginia Ratifying Convention]]

[[Category:Governors of Virginia]]

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[[Category:Virginia lawyers]]

[[Category:Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution]]

▲[[Category:Deaths from cancerdigestive in Virginiadisease]]