Patrick Henry Biography

Patrick Henry biography (1736-1799): Patrick Henry was the first governor of the new Commonwealth of Virginia and member of the Continental Congress. Henry was an articulate leader in the cause of American Independence and James Madison’s principle antagonist in the battle against adoption of the U.S. Constitution.

Patrick Henry Biography
The Man And His Times

The life of Patrick Henry is set in the context the American War for Independence Despite the protests of economist Adam Smith, Britain was committed to a mercantilist economic policy, one facet of which was an exploitive posture toward her colonies. A growing litany of abuses, included quartering of English troops in American homes, supposedly for purposes of protection. A series of taxes had been imposed without -- one of which led to the “Boston Tea Party” – and finally the Stamp Act, which led to Patrick Henry’s famous call for a break with Britain. These taxes had been imposed without consent or representation in the British Parliament.

After the Revolution, the 13 colonies were governed by “The Articles of Confederation” until 1787. At that time a Constitutional Convention was called to propose revisions in the Articles because of alleged weaknesses. Among other things, these included a weak executive, plus no power to regulate currency and high protective tariffs imposed by several of the states. AntiFederalists charged that the Convention usurped the power to propose an entirely new Constitution and present it to the people, rather than the state legislatures, for ratification.

Patrick Henry Biography
The Man And His Cause

Patrick Henry was a man devoted to the Bible. “The Bible is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed.” was the way he described it. He was more forthright than most of the founders in his devotion to Christ. “This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family,” he said at the end of his life, “The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.”

Moreover, his religious commitment was not limited to his private life, but extended to his involvement with the Anti-Federalists and their cause. “…Arguing from history, they [Anti-Federalists] charged that a republican government was more than a mere institutional design for representation. Rather, they said, it must also touch the character of the citizen. The Anti-Federalists believed in the positive role of government in both public morality and religion” (2).

Amid a life of extraordinary accomplishment, two high water marks emerge. These two key events sandwich the revolutionary era. The first launched his political career and the second brought it to a close.

Patrick Henry Biography
The Man And His Message

The first is Henry’s famous call to arms speech on the eve of the American Revolution. Even in today’s jaded culture, there are few who do not thrill to Patrick Henry’s words based on the Book of Jeremiah:

“Gentlemen may cry peace, peace!—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! …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 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!”

Animated by his wife’s death only a month before, Henry’s speech was so impassioned that Virginia immediately passed his resolutions and entered the conflict.

The second highlight in the Patrick Henry biography came some 13 years later during the debates over ratification of the U.S. Constitution. The Anti-Federalists were pitted against the Federalists led by James Madison.

Henry had felt earlier that the Constitutional Convention was up to no good and refused an invitation to attend, declaring “I smelt a rat”. In debate he opposed the Constitution on the grounds that it was “a revolution more radical than that which separated us from Great Britain.”

He recognized the radical nature of establishing governing authority in “we the people.” “Give me leave to demand,” he thundered, “what right had they to say, ‘We the People,” instead of ‘We the States’? If the States be not the agents of this compact, it must be one great consolidated national government of the people of all the States…Had the delegates, who were sent to Philadelphia a power to propose a consolidated government instead of a confederacy?…The people have no right to enter into leagues, alliances, or confederations: they are not the proper agents for this purpose.”

And so the Patrick Henry biography is first and foremost the story of a man devoted to the principles of political independence. Above all else he fought for the liberty of the Virginians he served and their posterity. Ultimately he failed, but his legacy is an example for us all.