A major figure of the Revolutionary era, Patrick Henry is most famous for his passionate rhetoric in defense of liberty. He was also an early opponent of the U.S. Constitution. Henry was born on May 29, 1736, to a well-known Hanover County, Virginia, family; his father, John, was a surveyor and county court justice. Young Patrick received only the most basic education supplemented by some tutoring from his father. In 1754 he married Sarah Shelton and began the first of several unsuccessful ventures in business and farming. He finally decided on a career in law, and in 1760 he was admitted to the Virginia bar. As it turned out, this was a wise choice of career as Henry soon displayed outstanding abilities as a courtroom orator, even though his knowledge of the law was not great. His gift for public speaking would eventually lead him to a profitable legal career and success in politics.

Like Samuel Adams, his contemporary in Massachusetts, Henry was a man of strong passions but narrow vision. His views reflected the local interests of backcountry planters and yeoman farmers, and he used his skill as a speaker to sway juries and legislators alike. His rhetoric was rooted in the English radical Whig tradition, and his later opposition to the Constitution was characteristic of libertarian and states' rights tendencies among the Anti-Federalists. However, despite Henry's obvious talents, Thomas Jefferson credited him with little intellectual depth. While his memorable phrases helped to crystallize public opinion in opposition to British imperial measures during the resistance movement (1764-75), his unwillingness to compromise encouraged confrontation and made negotiation difficult.

His role in the Parson's Cause firmly established Henry's reputation. His fiery use of the radical doctrine of natural rights in his courtroom defense of a Virginia law--a statute that effectively lowered Anglican clergy salaries by allowing payment in depreciated tobacco certificates--won him the case in the colonial court and cemented his reputation. Two years later, in the Virginia House of Burgesses, Henry further bolstered his reputation by putting forward a series of resolutions opposing the Stamp Act (1765). It was on this occasion that the Speaker of the House accused him of treason. Although it makes a wonderful story, it appears unlikely that he ever said, "If this be treason, then make the most of it."

From 1765 to 1774, Patrick Henry was a leading opponent of British colonial policies, and he was one of a small group of men who organized the first Virginia committee of correspondence. Elected to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress in 1775, he spoke often and eloquently in support of colonial rights. At the second Virginia Convention of 1775, he argued that the colonial militia should be readied for what he saw as an inevitable war. It was at the end of his speech on that occasion that he spoke the words, "I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."

During the war years, Henry was very active politically. He helped to draft the Virginia constitution in 1776, served as governor for three one-year terms from 1776 to 1778, and provided able support for General George Washington. He continued his public service during the 1780s, sitting in the House of Burgesses from 1780 to 1784 and again from 1786 to 1790, and serving as governor of Virginia from 1784 to 1786.

In 1787 Henry refused to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, saying he "smelled a rat." He opposed the new Constitution and, as a leading Anti-Federalist, feared that excessive centralization of the government would do irreparable damage to both state and individual rights. Henry's speeches at the Virginia ratification convention summarized many of the Anti-Federalists' major arguments, including fear of an executive who could easily become a monarch. He declared that "a man of ambition, and abilities" could "render himself absolute" as president. From Henry's perspective, granting so much power to the central government threatened to reverse the outcome of the Revolutionary War (1775-83) and would allow the rulers "to perpetuate the worst of mischiefs, should they be bad men." The addition of the Bill of Rights, for which he was partly responsible, satisfied only some of his objections.

In the years following 1790, Henry refused several high-ranking offices in the new national government, and he did not enter politics again until 1799, when he was reelected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. He died at his home in Red Hill, Virginia, on June 6, before he could take his seat.

Bibliography:

1)         Richard R. Beeman, Patrick Henry: A Biography (New York: McGraw Hill, 1974)

2)         Robert D. Meade, Patrick Henry, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1957-69).

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