There was some opposition in Virginia to any form of organization against the crown, but the persuasive Henry, from accounts given by people at the meetings, ended the convention with an emotional plea. Years later, biographer William Wirt in reconstructed the speech based on the recollections of Thomas Jefferson and others.
Forbid it, Almighty God! I am not a Virginian; I am an American. Henry was convinced that war was around the corner, and he arrived at the Virginia Convention determined to persuade his fellow delegates to adopt a defensive stance against Great Britain. Other colonies had passed similar resolutions, and Henry had already taken it upon himself to raise a volunteer outfit in Hanover County.
Nevertheless, many in the audience balked at approving any measure that might be viewed as combative. After several delegates had spoken on the issue, Patrick Henry rose from his seat in the third pew and took the floor. Henry spoke without notes, and no transcripts of his exact words have survived to today. The only known version of his remarks was reconstructed in the early s by William Wirt, a biographer who corresponded with several men that attended the Convention.
I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves, and the House? They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other.
They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication?
What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. 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, from the foot of the throne!
In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight!
I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! It was their duty not only to themselves but also to God to fight for the freedom they believed they so rightly deserved.
Patrick Henry's Political Background Patrick Henry was very involved in the political systems of the then British colony of Virginia and played an integral role in the formation of the United States of America as an independent nation free from British rule. Henry was an advocate for the people in the Parson's Cause trial , in which he argued against prices paid to the clergy for tobacco.
He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in where he adamantly promoted the Stamp Act , which imposed unfair taxes and restrictions on the British colonies.
He proposed the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions, which served to denounce Britain in what some considered to be an act of treason. He was appointed to the First Continental Congress, which was seated from under the leadership of Peyton Randolph. Henry and other delegates to the Continental Congress played a key role in coordinating colonial resistance to the British during the early days of the American revolution. He was the first post-colonial Governor of Virginia, reigning from to , then again from to During the American Revolution , he went home to Virginia and physically led militia forces in their efforts to protect the colony's inventory of gunpowder.
He was an anti-federalist who fiercely opposed the ratification of the Constitution. He felt it gave too much power to the federal government and not enough to the states.
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