A speech about Patrick Henry

I gave a variation on the following at Toastmasters last week:

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Many people recognize the some of the names of the Founding Fathers. Names like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. But there were a whole host of others involved in the creation of the United States. It is easy to forget some of the other men who also contributed.

Patrick Henry is one of my heroes. He is best known, and maybe only known, for his line "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" He was speaking to the House of Burgess, the Virginia legislative body in 1775. Great Britain was trying to bring the colonies under control. The colonists saw themselves as equals and would not accept the yoke of servitude.

Patrick Henry could easily be any Toastmaster’s hero. He was widely known, and acknowledge, as a great public speaker. Unfortunately few of his speeches were recorded. For example when he would start to speak in the House of Burgess, the recorder would become so memorized that he would forget to write.

Before telling a story of one instance when Patrick Henry was key to the American Revolution, I will first set the stage by providing some background. [Put up the map.]

The Virginia colony at the time was one of the largest of the 13 colonies in terms of land, population, and wealth. It was the oldest colony, with Jamestown having been founded in 1607. The population at the time was about six hundred thousand people, with around half of them being free and half slave. Most of the people were with fifty miles of water. The primary source of income was agriculture, mostly tobacco.

Patrick Henry came from an average middle class family. He married at 18 and first worked as a store keeper. He decided it would be more profitable to be a lawyer, studied for the bar and then was accepted as a lawyer. He lived out in the western part of Virginia and would travel a circuit arguing cases before the country judges. This gave him great exposure to much of the Virginian frontier. He knew men in most villages, and many of them called Patrick Henry friend.

Now I’ll tell you about one of the times that Patrick Henry helped the American Revolution. The year 1776 is a famous year in history. It marks the time when the Founding Fathers said that the colonies had had enough and they declared our independence. But 1777 was a dire year. The British were formidable opponents. They had at their disposal ten times the people. They had built the largest navy in the world. They had the wealth of many other colonies to draw on. They had professional soldiers. Several times during 1777 and 1778 people thought that the British were winning.

George Washington was appointed the general in charge of fighting the British. Virginia had promised to supply troops, ammunition and supplies. Many of the men signed up for six months or a year, which some thought would be all it would take to win the war. After their term of services was up the soldiers starting quitting, returning home to their farms. George Washington wrote to Patrick Henry, who was governor at the time, the first governor of Virginia, begging for more troops.

The colonists were also struggling with just how much power they wanted to give their governor. They were rejecting the dictatorial government of Great Britain, and did not want to replace it with a different dictator. The result was Patrick Henry had little authority. He had to work with the legislators.

With around three hundred thousand people, Virginia had around fifty thousand men who could be considered as soldiers. Many of them were already serving in the war. Most people at the time lived on farms, often close to subsistence farming. If the father left for a year the family would suffer, some might die from hunger.

Another problem for Virginia was it was really fighting in three wars. It wanted to support George Washington, but it also needed to protect itself from the frequent British naval invasions. A big problem with most towns so close to water was much of Virginia was exposed. With little warning British ships could show up, land troops, ravage a town and be gone before a local regiment could arrive to challenge the British.

The third major war was in the west. Great Britain offered to help Indians by giving them guns and supplies. Many Indians has long grievances with the colonies and saw this as a chance to have their revenge.

So when George Washington asked for more troops, even sending a thousand men was a great hardship for Virginia.

Governor Patrick Henry responded. He spent months working. He helped to line up clothes for the current soldiers. He begged and pleaded with the Virginia assembly to allocate funds for food and other supplies. Patrick Henry even sent his own sons off to war.

And he asked men to sign up for the army. Being Patrick Henry people listened. He was well loved and trusted, especially in the west. And being Patrick Henry he was very persuasive. He would speak, telling people about the challenges of their new nation, and the dangers facing them, and their duty.

There may have been no other public figure in Virginia who could have rallied the public like Patrick Henry. George Washington could fight the war, but he was not known for his public speaking. Thomas Jefferson could write well, but he acknowledged Patrick Henry as his clear superior in addressing the public. In fact after losing a case to Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson gave up the law and never practiced again.

There is a line that goes something like "For the want of a nail a shoe was lost, for the want of a shoe a horse was lost, for the want of the horse a message was lost, for the want of a message an army was lost, for the want of an army, a nation was lost."

There are key moments in history when a few individuals make great things happen. Patrick Henry is one of those individuals. At a pivotal time in key Patrick Henry, a true patriot made a difference.

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If you are interested in Patrick Henry, I strongly recommend the biography A Son of Thunder.


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