Liberty or Death

Patrick Henry

Today in 1775, Patrick Henry made his famous declaration, "Give me liberty or give me death." He made the speech to the 1775 Virginia Convention at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia. Men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson sat listening. Henry's passionate speech is credited with swinging the balance to convince the convention to gather a Virginia militia for the Revolutionary War.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Va

The speech was not published until 1815, however, much after the war. Yet, the impact it had on those who heard it is undeniable. Edmund Randolph reported that the convention sat in silence for several minutes afterward. Thomas Marshall told his son, who would become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the speech was "one of the most bold, vehement, and animated pieces of eloquence that had ever been delivered."

The speech also had its effects. One of the more immediate ones was that the resolution declaring the colonies to be independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain passed. Henry was also appointed chairman of the committee assigned to oversee a militia because the colonists would surely have to fight a war to grasp that liberty and independence.

Royal Governor's Palace, Williamsburg, Virginia

Lord Dunmore, the royal governor, reacted by seizing the gunpowder at Williamsburg, what one source explained as the equivalent of the battles of Lexington and Concord. The patriots had set their course on the road to independence, and a new nation would be formed.

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