Program Information

The French and Indian War turns out to be the most expensive war the British every waged. This meant that at the end of the war they had this enormous debt that they had to fund and they also had a larger empire to administer. The notion was they can get some of the money by taxing the colonists as they have never done before.

Liberty or Death is a production of the Community Idea Stations and the St. John's Church Foundation. When England taxed the American colonies to pay for the French and Indian war, the colonists became enraged and ardently resisted. What was at odds was the right of the colonists to govern and tax themselves versus Britain's absolute authority over its empire. In Virginia, Patrick Henry brought this issue to the forefront through many impassioned speeches to the colonial leaders in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Henry is most noted for the speech in which he decrees "give me liberty or give me death." Henry's immortal words spread throughout the colonies and became a rallying cry for revolution.

Transcript

One parson in Hanover County Virginia sued in court for the full amount that was due to him. The judge upheld the King’s decision and awarded damages to parson, but it was up to the jury to decide how much he would receive.

Patrick Henry, then a young lawyer, stood up and argued that only the general assembly had the right to make laws in the colonies. He accused the ministers of being greedy during tough times and then, Henry took aim at the King. “A King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, has degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects’ obedience.” Everyone in the room was shocked, but Henry had convinced the jury: They awarded the minister a total of only one penny. Henry had successfully thwarted the will of the King and was among the first in America to directly challenge Royal authority in the colonies.

RHYS ISSACS
“So there was pressure to go from Benign Neglect to more direct management. But what is probably more important in the sort of bringing things to a flashpoint was the French and Indian War, the great struggle, in which the British empire and the French empire fought it out.”

ALAN TAYLOR
“Well, the so-called French and Indian War, it’s also called the Seven Year’s War began in North America in1754 when a young and ambitious officer named George Washington was sent by the governor of Virginia to go into the Ohio Valley and oust a French fort at the forks of the Ohio which now is Pittsburg. He failed to do that but he did ambush a French patrol which started this war. Well now the British policy is to conquer Canada once and for all by investing unprecedented numbers of soldiers and war ships and cannons and other munitions.”

SOLDIER
“March on.”

ALAN TAYLOR
“So this turns out to be the most expensive war the British every waged. This meant that at the end of the war they had this enormous debt that they had to fund and they also had a larger empire to administer, and so the British is going to keep a permanent army of about 10,000 men in North America whereas before the French and Indian War they had virtually no men in North America. This is expensive and so they need money for it. And the notion is they can get some of the money by taxing the colonists as they have never done before.”

SOLDIER
“Fire!”

Virginia Standards