Now, Patrick Henry is here, of course, and he rises early on in the convention. It begins on March 20th. On March 23rd Patrick Henry rises to make a remarkable proposition. He recommends that Virginia arm for what he sees as a likely coming war with Britain. Well, of course, this is met with a great deal of opposition. This is really challenging British authority, if we're going to take up arms, buy guns and gunpowder, and train the young men for military service. And he begins his most famous speech. He makes the argument that if Britain wanted peace, why are they sending troops and ships to Boston? That's not the way to make peace, that's the way to make war. He then goes on. "Gentleman may cry peace, peace, but there is no peace. The war is actually begun." Less than four weeks before the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Patrick Henry is saying that war has really 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?" Once again, this "brethren." We're part of Massachusetts; we're all Americans. "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 or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death." Now, Patrick Henry makes this speech from this pew here in St. John's church, and as he does so, people are listening at the windows. All of the delegates are listening, and they're struck dumb with silence. When he's done, people report there's just silence. People don't know quite what to say. Some of the most eloquent words that Patrick Henry ever makes are made here on March 23, 1775. But, that silence is broken by Richard Henry Lee, rising to second Patrick Henry's motion that Virginia needs to arm. And, there's a very heated debate. But Virginia will decide to arm in preparation for what is the coming American Revolution. Patrick Henry is put on the committee that's going to help arm the colony. The decision that's made here in Richmond in March is very similar to the decision that Second Continental Congress will make in Philadelphia in a few months when George Washington is going to be made General Washington because the colonies are going to take up arms against Britain. But what of the speech? What of the speech? Patrick Henry is making this beautiful speech, but is it effective? Does it do anything? Well we know that it certainly affects the people who heard it. Edward Carrington, he's a Revolutionary officer, he's going to become a Revolutionary officer and an important politician in his own right, apparently is listening at that window. And after the speech is done he drops down from the window, strikes the ground, and says, let me be buried at this spot. And his tomb, in fact, is right outside that window. By the end of June, the President of Yale College is hearing that the Virginia Legislators are all coming to their business with the words "liberty or death" stitched into their jackets. Minutemen from Culpeper County are going to march to the defense of Virginia to fight Lord Dunmore and his troops down in Southeast Virginia near Norfolk with "liberty or death" stitched into their hunting shirts. Now we have no modern media; we don't have the Internet; we don't have TV. It's very difficult for something to go viral, so to speak, but very clearly Patrick Henry has got people rallied in support of what's going to become the American Revolution. Now, it also raises some important questions about these speeches. This speech that I was reading from is not recorded at the time, and Patrick Henry never has a written out speech he's working from. At best he's working from notes, and if he was working from notes, he burned them or destroyed them. We don't have them. The speech is not recorded until years after the fact. We do know that this phrase, "liberty or death," is likely taken from the play "Cato." It was one of George Washington's favorite plays. It's about how Cato opposes the tyrant Julius Caesar in the Roman era. But it was not uncommon for learned people at that time to take phrases from famous poems or plays or books. So should we trust the speech? Did Patrick Henry really ever say these things here in St. Johns Church in 1775? Well, of course, we can't know for sure. And each individual word is probably not Henry's. But it is the 18th century; it's an oral culture; it's a culture when people remember things. And everybody says, when they are talking about Patrick Henry, whether it's The Parson's Cause or the Stamp Act Resolution to the Liberty or Death speech, years later they will say "I remember it like it was yesterday," the words that Patrick Henry spoke to compel people to support the revolution. My own view, I think certainly the outline of the speech was probably what Henry said. I think the most memorable phrases, certainly "give me liberty or give me death," were undoubtedly Henry. Beyond that, we don't know. But we do know that this speech is having an effect throughout the colonies, and it certainly gets people's attention in England. Well, in the midst of all of this, in the midst of Patrick Henry trying to rally people to the American Revolution, it's also amazing that he is suffering many of the personal tragedies that people deal with when they start to come to middle age. And Henry is going to have more tragedy than most. His beloved wife, Sarah, who he had married very young after they fell in love, has become very ill. The historians generally believe that it's mental illness brought on by severe postpartum depression. Henry doesn't know quite what to do with Sarah. The mental health facilities are not good in the 18th century. She's basically kept in the basement of Scotchtown Plantation, where she's going to die in February. So Patrick Henry is making this "liberty or death" speech approximately a month after his dear wife had died. Now he had brought his family to Scotchtown Plantation in 1771, hoping to raise his children there. He sells it in 1777, saying that the memory of Sarah is just too strong; he can't live there. But in the midst of this tragedy, two years later, he marries the young Dorothea Dandridge, whom you recall that he probably met at that Christmas party at Nathaniel Dandridge's house where he meets Thomas Jefferson. When Henry marries Dorothea in 1777 he is 41, she is 20 or 22. Again, her birth date's not very clear. And he is going to go on to have 11 children with Dorothea Dandridge. So like many people approaching middle age, Henry is experiencing many of the difficulties of life, some of the tragedies of life. He's going to lose his mother and several siblings, but he's at the very height of his political and oratorical career.
