HENRY,
PATRICK
(May 29, 1736–June 6, 1799), was an American Revolutionary leader and orator, who spoke the phrase, “Give me Liberty or give me death!” He was Commander in Chief of the Virginia Militia, a member of the Virginia General Assembly and House of Burgesses, 1765; and a member of the Continental Congress, 1774–75. He was the five-time Governor of the State of Virginia, 1776–79, 1784–86, and was instrumental in writing the Constitution of Virginia.
Patrick Henry was offered numerous positions by President George Washington and Congress, but he declined them all, including: Secretary of State, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, U.S. Minister to Spain, U.S. Minister to France and U.S. Senator.
On the reverse of The Stamp Act Resolves, passed in the House of Burgesses, May 1765, Patrick Henry wrote:
This brought on the war which finally separated the two countries and gave independence to ours. Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings, which a gracious God hath bestowed on us.
If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable.
Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others.
(signed) P. Henry1108
Prior to the Revolution, in 1768, Patrick Henry rode for miles on horseback to a trial in Spottsylvania County. He entered the rear of the courtroom where three Baptist ministers were being tried for having preached without the sanction of the Episcopalian Church. In the midst of the proceedings, he interrupted:
May it please your lordships, what did I hear read? Did I hear an expression that these men, whom you worships are about to try for misdemeanor, are charged with preaching the gospel of the Son of God?1109
In a courtroom speech, Patrick Henry stated:
I know, sir, how well it becomes a liberal man and a Christian to forget and forgive. As individuals professing a holy religion, it is our bounden duty to forgive injuries done us as individuals. But when the character of Christian you add the character of patriot, you are in a different situation. Our mild and holy system of religion inculcates an admirable maxim of forbearance. If your enemy smite one cheek, turn the other to him. But you must stop there. You cannot apply this to your country. As members of a social community, this maxim does not apply to you. When you consider injuries done to your country your political duty tells you of vengeance. Forgive as a private man, but never forgive public injuries. Observations of this nature are exceedingly unpleasant, but it is my duty to use them.1110
In a 1773 letter to Robert Pleasants, Patrick Henry expressed his disapproval of the slave trade:
I take this opportunity to acknowledge the receit of Anthony Benezet’s Book against the slave trade. I thank you for it. …
Is it not amazing, that at a time when the rights of humanity are defined and understood with precision in a country above all others fond of liberty, that in such an age and in such a country, we find men professing a religion most humane, mild, meek, gentle and generous, adopting a Principle as repugnant to humanity, as it is inconsistent to the Bible and destructive to liberty?. …
I will not, I cannot justify it. … I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. …
It is a debt we owe to the purity of our Religion to show that it is at variance with that law which warrants slavery. I know not when to stop. I would say many things on this subject, a serious review of which gives gloomy perspective to future times.1111
On March 23, 1775, the Second Virginia Convention had been relocated from the House of Burgesses to St. John’s Church in Richmond, because of increasing tension between the Colonists and the British. Patrick Henry stated:
For my own part I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery. … It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. …
Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament.
Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt. … An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us! …
Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the Holy cause of Liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.
Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God who presides over the destines of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battle for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. …
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!1112
On June 12, 1776, as a member of the committee chosen to draft the first constitution of the commonwealth of Virginia, Patrick Henry helped champion Article XVI of the Virginia Bill of Rights:
That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.1113
In 1784, Patrick Henry supported a Bill establishing a “Provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion”:
The general diffusion of Christian knowledge hath a natural tendency to correct the morals of men, restrain their vices, and preserve the peace of society … 1114
Patrick Henry is attributed to have stated:
It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.1115
Patrick Henry reprinted and distributed Soame Jennings’ book, View of the Internal Evidence of Christianity.1116
In 1786, Patrick Henry wrote to his sister, Ann Christian, in Kentucky, upon learning of the death of her husband, Colonel William Christian:
Would to God I could say something to give relief to the dearest of women and sisters. …
My heart is full. Perhaps I may never see you in this world. O may we meet in Heaven, to which the merits of Jesus will carry those who love and serve Him.
Heaven will, I trust, give you its choicest comfort and preserve your family. Such is the prayer of him who thinks it his honor and pride to be, Your Affectionate Brother, Patrick Henry.1117
In 1796, in a letter to his daughter, Patrick Henry stated:
Amongst other strange things said of me, I hear it is said by the deists that I am one of their number; and, indeed, that some good people think I am no Christian. This thought gives me much more pain than the appellation of Tory; because I think religion of infinitely higher importance than politics; and I find much cause to reproach myself that I have lived so long and have given no decided and public proofs of my being a Christian. But, indeed, my dear child, this is the character which I prize far above all this world has, or can boast.1118
Patrick Henry stated:
Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impossible that a nation of infidels or idolaters should be a nation of free-men. It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom.1119
Patrick Henry, once interrupted while engaged in Bible reading, held up his Bible and said:
The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed, and it has been my misfortune that I have never found time to read it with the proper attention and feeling till lately. I trust in the mercy of Heaven that it is not yet too late.1120
Shortly before his death, in a letter to Archibald Blair, January 8, 1799, Patrick Henry commented on the French Revolution:
And, whilst I see the dangers that threaten ours from her [France’s] intrigues and her arms, I am not so much alarmed as at the apprehension of her destroying the great pillars of all government and of social life,—I mean virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed.1121
In failing health, Patrick Henry wrote in 1799 to President John Adams, to express regrets that he would not be able to serve as the U.S. Minister to France, nor the term he had been elected to in Virginia’s legislature. Knowing his time was short he told his family:
Oh, how wretched should I be at this moment, if I had not made my peace with God!1122
While Patrick Henry was dying, he spoke:
Doctor, I wish you to observe how real and beneficial the religion of Christ is to a man about to die. … I am, however, much consoled by reflecting that the religion of Christ has, from its first appearance in the world, been attacked in vain by all the wits, philosophers, and wise ones, aided by every power of man, and its triumphs have been complete.1123
On November 20, 1798, in his Last Will and Testament, Patrick Henry wrote:
I have now disposed of all my property to my family; there is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had that, and I had not given them one shilling, they would be rich, and if they had not that, and I had given them all the world, they would be poor.
This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of Christ will give them one which will make them rich indeed.1124
Bishop Meade wrote of Patrick Henry that:
His attachment to the [Episcopal] Church of his fathers is clearly established.1125
On behalf of the Henry family, Reverend Dresser wrote of Patrick Henry:
It is stated, in an article which I saw some time ago, from the Protestant Episcopalian, and, I presume, from one of you, that Patrick Henry was once an infidel, &c. His widow and some of his descendants are residing in this county, and I am authorized by one of them to say that the anecdote related is not true. He ever had, I am informed, a very abhorrence of infidelity, and actually wrote an answer to “Paine’s Age of Reason,” but destroyed it before his death. His widow informed me that he received the Communion as often as an opportunity was offered, and on such occasions always fasted until after he had communicated, and spent the day in the greatest retirement. This he did both while Governor and afterward. Had he lived a few years longer, he would have probably done much to check the immoral influence of one of his compatriots, whose works are now diffusing the poison of infidelity throughout our land.1126
Patrick Henry’s grandson, William Wirt Henry, described Henry as one who:
Looked to the restraining and elevating principles of Christianity as the hope of his country’s institutions.1127
Patrick Henry Fontaine, also a grandson, said Patrick Henry had committed himself to the:
Earnest efforts to establish true Christianity in our country.1128