Patrick Henry, Thomas Kidd
Patriot, icon, little known: Patrick Henry was best known
for his fiery speech to move Virginia to action in the Revolutionary war that
ended in “…give me liberty or give me death.”
But what we lack is the lifetime context of Henry. He was renowned for his legislative
resolutions against the stamp act in 1775 and then he gained infamy in his
speech before the Virginia Assembly on the ratification of the constitution,
“…consequent happiness or misery of mankind – I am led to believe that much of
the account on one side or the other, will depend on what we now decide.” – He
was against the constitution. He lost
this close vote, but the nation would not have coalesced had he gotten his way.
This is my second Patrick Henry bio in the last year – Lion
of Liberty was the other one. Lion of
liberty gave me a better sense of the individual, but this was a more thorough
construction of his impact on the revolution and the post war creation of a nation.
Patrick Henry is most noted for his “give me liberty or give
me death” speech which roused the country and especially Virginia where he
would be governor, spokesperson, lawyer, land owner and regrettably slave
holder. He was a patriot of Virginia and
was an outspoken man who challenged and often feuded with Jefferson, Madison,
Hamilton, and Washington.
After the war, with designs on owning land in the west,
taking it from the Indians , of course, he opposed the new constitution and the
creation of one nation with strong national government.
It is intriguing politics.
We see Jefferson, resigning his post as governor as the threat of
British invasion is intimate and in the cowardly action loses the respect of
many in Virginia and Henry in particular.
Reading this narrative with its many good quotes and details
I find the references to Great Britain make slaves of the colonists an
interesting reference when slavery is such an apparent and awful paradox. The whiteness of the colonies is very apparent
and the seeds of the civil war and the expulsion of Indians and the expansion
to the west are woven in to the threads of our revolutionary history. It is also apparent what a struggle the
nation would have with religion and its separation from government in the
rhetoric of Henry as he opposes the less fervent Jefferson and Washington.
In the end I find myself really happy that Henry did not
rise to the leadership of the nation and that his views were muted by the work
and thoughtfulness of the group that did design the national model.
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