Patrick Henry: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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

===Parson's Cause===

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 twopence per pound (0.45 kilograms) and in 1755 and 1758, the Virginia [[House of Burgesses]], the elected lower house of the colonial legislature, passed [[Two Penny Act]]s, 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 then Virginia's [[established church]], 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]]]]