Patrick Henry's “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” Speech

Outline

Introduction

In this part, we will provide a brief description of the speech given by Sir Patrick Henry on 23rd march 1775. The speech is famous and known by its last sentence which is "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" The speech was addressed to the president or king of Virginia at that time. The speech was first published in 1817 in "Life and Character of Patrick Henry," by William Wirt, after Henry's death. Their exact wording is up to the traditional citation, and is not historically documented (Mayer, 45).

Discussion

In this part, we will first discuss the background on Patrick Henry and the reason why he gave this speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he was one of the most influential and radical supporters of the Revolution and republicanism, and was active mainly in the complaint of corruption among public officials and claiming rights historically enjoyed by the inhabitants of the colonies. During the War of Independence, Henry became the first governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779. He again held the position from 1784 to 1786 (Cohen, 702).

He gathered craftsmen, farmers, but also gentlemen merchants who opposed the state. He believed that the United States Constitution gave too much power to the federal government (Mayer, 45).

According to Henry, the claim of Virginia to rule on the validity of federal laws was unconstitutional. He was warned about the risks of such a legal theory, which he says would lead to civil war and subjection to foreign powers. Henry was elected, but died three months before taking the position, at the age of 63 years (Nelson, 90).

Analysis of the Speech

In this section, we will analyze the speech in detail. We will look forward to the reasons behind giving this speech and the changes made after this speech in the minds of people. Henry delivered the speech to let the world know, that the conditions of their home country were not good enough and that they should be prepared for a war with Britain since they were not treating them rightly (Randall, 89). He was trying to convey the point to the targeted audience that they should have enough colonists in case if they start a war so that they could be able to fight with them.

Though, Henry himself did not like the war and was never in favor of it; but this was the time when he realized that the war was expected and no one could deny it (Randall, 89). He represented the fact that there are times when the need of war is so necessary that without it, one cannot survive according to his own will.

He had the criticism against the war and all the activities which Great Britain performed against them by pretending as they were helping them in love for them. He also believed that the Great Britain was treating them as inferior to them and not as equals which was actually their right ...