Today in 1775, in St. John’s Church in Richmond, over 100 Virginia Colonial legislators were meeting.
So much for separation of church and state, eh?
King George III had declared the colonies in rebellion, and had seized all the gunpowder in Williamsburg. Patrick Henry led a militia in resistance, and the Crown was forced to acquiesce.
Patrick Henry took to floor to implore his fellow Virginians to take action, that the time to hope for negotiation was over, that we either live free or die in slavery.
“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!”
That’s the quote most widely known. The public schools have long since erased the references to God while immortalizing the final sentence. I always thought the scrubbing of religion from our Revolution was and is an unforgivable offense.
Henry’s speech, given in a church, is replete with religion.
He calls silence an “act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven” and refers to God multiple times.
The entire speech is here, but I have a few other choice quotes that I’ve always liked.
“Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope.”
Patrick Henry explains Obama over 200 years prior! He’s Nostrodamus!
“Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss.”
Next time, the ACLU tells you how secular are government was supposed to be, throw a biography of Patrick Henry at them.
“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!”
Amazing. Simply amazing.
“They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger?… Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?”
Patrick Henry didn’t pull punches. Henry’s call to arms was key to the passage of a resolution sending Virginia troops into the Revolutionary War.
Today, we celebrate Liberty.
