Editing Patrick Henry (section)

==="Liberty or Death" (1775)===
{{further| Give me liberty or give me death!}}
[[File:Patrick Henry speaking before the Virginia Assembly.tiff|thumb|right|[[Currier & Ives]] depiction of Henry giving his famous speech]]
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Hanover County elected Henry as a delegate to the Second Virginia Convention, which convened at [[St. John's Episcopal Church (Richmond, Virginia)|St. John's Episcopal Church]] in the town of [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] on March 20, 1775. Richmond was selected as better protected from royal authority. The convention debated whether Virginia should adopt language from a petition by the planters of the [[Colony of Jamaica]]. This document contained complaints about British actions but admitted the king could veto colonial legislation, and it urged reconciliation. Henry offered amendments to raise a militia independent of royal authority in terms that recognized that conflict with Britain was inevitable, sparking the opposition of moderates. On March 23, he defended his amendments, concluding with the statement he is well known for:

{{quote|If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? 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!{{sfn|Kidd|p=52}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!|publisher=Colonial Williamsburg Foundation|access-date=September 16, 2017|url=http://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/giveme.cfm|archive-date=September 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916164524/http://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/giveme.cfm|url-status=live}}</ref>
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As he concluded, Henry plunged an ivory [[Paper knife|paper cutter]] towards his chest in imitation of the Roman patriot [[Cato the Younger]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Patrick Henry's Red |title=Paper Cutter |url=https://www.redhill.org/paper-cutter/ |access-date=April 22, 2024 |website=Patrick Henry's Red Hill |language=en-US |archive-date=December 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203232553/https://www.redhill.org/paper-cutter/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Henry's speech carried the day, and the convention adopted his amendments.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=170–172}} Still, they passed only narrowly, as many delegates were uncertain where the resistance urged by Henry and other radicals would lead, and few counties formed independent militia companies at the urging of the convention.{{sfn|McDonnell|pp=44–45}}

The text of Henry's speech first appeared in print in Wirt's 1817 biography, published 18 years after Patrick Henry's death.{{sfn|Raphael|p=147}} Wirt corresponded with men who had heard the speech and others who were acquainted with people who were there at the time. All agreed that the speech had produced a profound effect, but it seems that only one person attempted to render an actual text. Judge [[St. George Tucker]], who had been present for the speech, gave Wirt his recollections and Wirt wrote back stating that "I have taken almost entirely Mr. Henry's speech in the Convention of '75 from you, as well as your description of its effect on your verbatim." The original letter with Tucker's remembrances has been lost.{{sfn|Raphael|p=148}}

For 160 years Wirt's account was taken at face value. In the 1970s, historians began to question the authenticity of Wirt's reconstruction.<ref>Judy Hemple, "The Textual and Cultural Authenticity of Patrick Henry's 'Liberty or Death' Speech," ''Quarterly Journal of Speech'' 63 (1977): 298–310; see Ray Raphael, ''Founding Myths,'' 311 note 7 for additional discussions among historians.</ref> Contemporary historians observe that Henry was known to have used fear of Indian and slave revolts in promoting military action against the British and that, according to the only written first-hand account of the speech, Henry used some graphic name-calling that Wirt did not include in his heroic rendition.{{sfn|Raphael|pp=145–156, 311–313}} Tucker's account was based upon recollections and not notes, several decades after the speech; he wrote, "In vain should I attempt to give any idea of his speech".{{sfn|Raphael|p=149}} Scholars have argued to what extent the speech we know is the work of Wirt or Tucker.{{sfn|Raphael|p=148}}