Program Information

Virginia Convention delegates are divided over the resolution put forth by Patrick Henry that Virginia be able to form its own militia without permission of the crown.

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

HARRISON:
“Mr. President!”

RANDOLPH
“Mr. Benjamin Harrison, the gentlemen from Charles City County.”

HARRISON:
“I desire to raise my voice in opposition to the adoption of the resolutions at this time. I consider them as rash and inexpedient. The report from England, as we all know, is that our petition to the King, passed from the last Convention, has been graciously received. No sufficient time has passed for a reply to come to us.”

NELSON:
“Sir, you know well that Mr. Lee has received reliable word that the King will reject our requests.”

HARRISON:
“I know no such thing.”

HENRY:
“It’s coming, Sir, it’s coming!”

RANDOPLH:
“We will have order! Mr. Harrison.”

HARRISON:
“Gentlemen, I am as warm a friend of liberty as any man in this Convention, and as little disposed to submit, but national civility and filial respect demands that we do nothing hastily, we offer no provocations. I’m a farmer, and I represent the farmers of Charles City County, and I deprecate any step that might be taken that will stop the production of corn and tobacco and force the people the people of Virginia into starvation.”

HENRY:
“Oh, Starvation, indeed, sir! And what of the brave people of Boston?”

HARRISON:
“I represent Charles City County, not Boston!”

JEFFERSON:
“Mr. President . . . Mr. President!”

HENRY:
“If it can happen in New England, it can happen here! The colonies need to be prepared!”

RANDOLPH:
“Gentlemen! Mr. Thomas Jefferson from Albemarle County.”

JEFFERSON:
“Sir, Virginia is bound by honor and interest to share one fate with our sister colonies. I recognize no allegiance to Parliament, only to the King. The Colonies are tied to England by the tie of the Crown. Virginia is a self-governing dominion within the British Empire. Gentlemen, Virginia should be prepared. I regard these acts of Parliament, limiting our westward growth, attempting to tax our people without our consent, closing the Port of Boston, and all of the Intolerable Acts, Sir, are the aggressive acts of a foreign power. They should be resisted, gentleman, with all the means in our power. The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. I call earnestly on this convention to support Mr. Henry’s resolution.”

HARRISON:
“Mr. Jefferson, we must act with discretion, which is guided by simple reason!”

HENRY:
“How can one be discrete, Sir, with British ship’s cannons aimed at short range at the port of Boston?”

NICHOLAS:
“That is in Boston, that’s 400 miles away!”

NELSON:
“Those ships could soon be in the Chesapeake.”

PENDLETON:
“Mr. President!”

RANDOLPH:
“Mr. Harrison!! Mr. Henry!! Take your seats, Gentlemen!! Take your seat, Mr. Henry! Mr. Edmund Pendleton, gentleman from Caroline.”

PENDLETON:
“I hope that this Convention will proceed slowly before rushing Virginia into war. Is this a moment to disgust our friends in England who are laboring for the repeal of the unjust taxes which afflict us, to turn their friendship into hatred, and their pity into revenge? Are we ready for war?”

NELSON:
“Are we ready for tyranny?” (Henry: “Aye, sir!”)

PENDLETON:
“Where are our arms — where our soldiers — where our monies, the very sinews of war? They are nowhere to be found in sufficient force or abundance so as to give us any reasonable hope of a successful resistance. We are in truth, poor and defenseless, and should strike only when it becomes absolutely necessary — and not before.”
(Low mumbles of "hear, hear!)

PENDLETON:
“And yet the gentlemen in favor of this resolution talk of assuming the front of war, of assuming it, too, against a nation, one of the most powerful in all the world. A nation armed and ready on all points; whose navy rides in triumph on every sea, whose army never marches but to certain victory. For God's sake, Mr. President, let us allow all reasonable delay, and then, if the worse should come to the worst, we shall have no feelings of blame.”

LEE:
“This is not a time for timid measures, Mr. Pendleton!” (Ayes!!)

PENDLETON:
“There is no man in this Convention more attached to the liberties of this country than the man who now addressing you. But we must think, gentlemen, before we sacrifice perhaps everything to a spirit of indignation and revenge. Think of the strength and luster we derive from our connection with Great Britain, think of the domestic comforts which we have drawn from the same source — of the ties of trade and of business — of our friends and families still living in England. The tyrannies from which we suffer, after all, are the tyrannies of a party in temporary possession of power. (Henry: “Temporary sir”!) Give a little time, take no hostile action, and these tyrants in England will be overthrown. Men in sympathy with America will assume authority.”

JEFFERSON:
“The gentleman is mistaken.”

PENDLETON:
“Our ills will pass away and the sunshine of the halcyon days of old will come back again.”
(Henry: “Halcyon days again”)

NELSON:
“He’s a dreamer.”

PENDELTON:
“We must arm, you say? (“Aye, Sir” ) But, Gentlemen, remember that blows are apt to follow the arming, and blood will follow the blows, and when this occurs the dogs of wars will be loosed, friends will be converted into enemies, and this flourishing country will be swept by a tornado of death and destruction.” (Hear! Hear!)

NICHOLAS:
“Mr. President.”

RANDOLPH:
“Mr. Robert Carter Nicholas, the gentleman from James City County.”

NICHOLAS:
“Mr. President, I heartily agree with the gentleman from Caroline. I consider the resolutions of the gentleman from Hanover to be hasty, rash and unreasonable. The motion pushes too far — we must strive to have errors rectified, not to alter or destroy our ties with the Mother Country. But, more than that, I deem the militia upon which the gentleman depends, to be wholly insufficient for our defense. It will prove the bane of the war, which the gentleman from Hanover seems so willing to hurry us into. Sir, I hope these alarming military resolutions will be voted down but, if the colony must be armed, then let her raise a force of ten thousand men (Cries of loud protest. “Let the man speak, Gentlemen!”) Aye, ten thousand men I say, to be trained as regulars and serve for the duration of the war. Short term enlistments of militia, such as this gentleman from Hanover contemplates, will prove the bane of the war. But I speak for peace — not war, until war is forced upon us.”

WASHINGTON:
“War is being forced upon us, Sir! The British have sent a hostile Navy and Army to subdue Boston!” (Aye!)

NICHOLAS:
“That is New England, Colonel, not Virginia!”
(General shouts of agreement and protest co-mingle )

HENRY
“But it could happen here.”
(Shouting)

HENRY
“The colony needs to be prepared!”

NELSON & WASHINGTON:
“Mr. President!”

RANDOLPH:
“Mr. Thomas Nelson. Gentlemen! Mr. Thomas Nelson, the gentleman from York County.”

NELSON:
“Gentlemen, I am a merchant in Yorktown, and I derive much profit from my trade with England. But why should we labor to raise our fortunes, if they may be taken from us at the leisure of others? Tyranny and naked aggression must be met with preparation and fortitude. (Henry “Aye sir!”) Let me say this. I call God to witness- if any British troops land in the county of York, where I am Lieutenant, I will await no orders. I will summon the Militia, and drive the invaders to the water’s edge!” (cheers and jeers “To Arms! To Arms!)

WASHINGTON:
Mr. President, Gentlemen, the taking up of arms should always be a last resort, but can any honorable man scruple or hesitate to take up arms in defense of so priceless a thing as liberty? (Henry “Hear! Hear!”) Is it not clear that as the sun at its noontime brightness, that some provisions must be made to ensure proper arms and ammunition for the public good? And as the training of our Militia has been much neglected, I will willingly resume my post of command, should the necessity arise. (Many loud calls of Here! Here!) Gentlemen, the sword of our defense must be forged on the anvil of necessity. For my own part, it is my full intention to offer up both my life and my fortune in the Cause that we are engaged in, if need be. I urge that these resolutions now under discussion be adopted.”

Virginia Standards