Henry, Patrick

Henry, Patrick (1736–99), Virginia statesman, during the years leading up to the Revolution was a member of the colonial House of Burgesses and of the Continental Congress. His revolutionary speeches were marked by force and sincerity, as in his famous phrases, “Tarquin and Cæsar each had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by their example…. If this be treason, make the most of it!” (speech on the Stamp Act, May 29, 1765, in the Virginia legislature); and “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” (speech in the Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775). Outlawed by Lord Dunmore, Henry succeeded him as governor of Virginia (1776–79), when he supported Washington and sent George Rogers Clark on his Northwestern expedition. Although originally a radical, he broke with his friend Jefferson and became a conservative member of the Federalist party. He declined membership in the Constitutional Convention and the U.S. Senate, as well as Washington's offers to appoint him secretary of state and chief justice of the Supreme Court. He was mainly responsible for the drafting of the Bill of Rights. He figures frequently in fiction, e.g. J.E. Cooke's The Virginia Comedians and John Erskine's Give Me Liberty. William Wirt's adulatory Life (1817) did much to ensure his fame for posterity.