Person:Patrick Henry (1)

Patrick Henry, an American Founding Father

"I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" (from his Liberty or Death Speech, 23 Mar 1775)

Research Resources

Some Biographical Material for Patrick Henry

• Biography of Patrick Henry at Red Hill, Patrick Henry National Memorial website
• Bio Guide for Patrick Henry at Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Patrick Henry Fact Sheet at People of Williamsburg at history.org

Family Timeline

• Family Timeline at Red Hill, Patrick Henry National Memorial website

Career Timeline

• Career Timeline at Red Hill, Patrick Henry National Memorial website

Family and Descendants

• Patrick Henry's Family and Descendants at Red Hill, Patrick Henry National Memorial website

Patrick Henry at Wikipedia

[Note: For the latest revision of Wikipedia information, see Wikipedia:Patrick Henry. The content below is only refreshed from Wikipedia 3-4 times/year.]

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.

A native of Hanover County, Virginia, Henry was for the most part educated at home. After an unsuccessful venture running a store, as well as assisting his father-in-law at Hanover Tavern, he became a lawyer through self-study. Beginning his practice in 1760, Henry soon became prominent through his victory in the Parson's Cause against the Anglican clergy. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he quickly became notable for his inflammatory rhetoric against the Stamp Act of 1765.

In 1774 and 1775, Henry served as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses where he signed the Petition to the King, which he helped to draft, and signed the Continental Association. He gained further popularity among the people of Virginia, both through his oratory at the convention and by marching troops towards the colonial capital of Williamsburg after the Gunpowder Incident until the munitions seized by the royal government were paid for. Henry urged independence, and when the Fifth Virginia Convention endorsed this in 1776, he served on the committee charged with drafting the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the original Virginia Constitution. Henry was promptly elected governor under the new charter and served a total of five one-year terms.

After leaving the governorship in 1779, Henry served in the Virginia House of Delegates until he began his last two terms as governor in 1784. The actions of the national government under the Articles of Confederation made Henry fear a strong federal government, and he declined appointment as a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. He actively opposed the ratification of the United States Constitution, both fearing a powerful central government and because there was as yet no Bill of Rights. He returned to the practice of law in his final years, declining several offices under the federal government. A slaveholder throughout his adult life, he hoped to see the institution end but had no plan for that beyond ending the importation of slaves. Henry is remembered for his oratory and as an enthusiastic promoter of the fight for independence.

Records of Patrick Henry in Augusta County, VA

From Chalkley’s Augusta County Records⁴:

• Vol. 1 - NOVEMBER, 1763 (C). - Price vs. Allison.--Deposition of Patrick Henry, Jr., aged 27 years, who, being first sworn, deposeth and saith: That sometime about the 20th day of November, in the year 1758, the defendant came to the store then kept by this deponent in Hanover County, and did take up upon credit sundry goods amounting to 31 shillings, and about the same time did obtain an order from'this deponent to one, Charles Crenshaw, on which order the said defendant took up, as this deponent believes, goods amounting to 29 shillings 17 1/2 pence, inasmuch as this deponent paid the said last mentioned sum to the said Crenshaw for the said defendant, etc. P. Henry, Jr. Sworn to before, 22d October, 1763. John Henry. (Note: the term "Jr." was sometimes used to differentiate between generations, not necessarily to indicate that the father was also of the same name. In this case, Patrick Henry could have been given the "Jr." to differentiate him from his uncle, Patrick Henry, brother of his father, John Henry).

• Page 109.--19th November, 1767. John Shelton, of Hanover County, to Patrick Henry, Jr., of Louisa County, £200, mortgage of the following tracts patented to John, 16th August, 1756: A, 650 acres on the waters of Clinch River; B, 1,400 acres on a branch of Clinch called Mockison Creek; C, 940 acres on the Middle Fork of Indian River; D, 995 acres on the Indian River; E, 155 acres on south side of the Indian River; F, 1,000 acres on two branches of Clinch River; also one undivided share of a patent to Col. James Patton and Others, of which the above lands are a part. Teste: Thomas Jefferson, &c. Delivered: Ephraim Dunlap, 30th September, 1772. [Note: John Shelton was the father-in-law of Patrick Henry, from his first wife Sarah Shelton]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Patrick Henry, in Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

   [Last accessed 15 Oct 2012]
   HENRY, Patrick, (grandfather of William Henry Roane, cousin of Isaac Coles, and great-great-great-grandfather of Robert Lee Henry), a Delegate from Virginia; born in Studley, Hanover County, Va., May 29, 1736; pursued classical studies; engaged in mercantile pursuits; studied law; plantation owner; was admitted to the bar in 1760; lawyer, private practice; moved to Louisa County in 1764; served as a member of the colonial house of burgesses in 1765; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1775; colonel of militia, 1775-1776; delegate in the Williamsburg (Va.) convention of May 1776; Governor of Virginia 1776-1779 and 1784-1786; member of the State convention which ratified the Constitution in 1788; declined invitation to attend Federal Convention in Philadelphia in 1787; declined the appointment of delegate to Continental Congress, 1779; member, State house of delegates, 1780-1790; declined the appointment of United States Senator in 1794, the Cabinet portfolio of Secretary of State in 1795, the appointment of Chief Justice of the United States tendered by President Washington, and of Minister to France offered by President Adams; elected to the State senate in 1799, but did not take the seat; died in Red Hill, Va., June 6, 1799; interment on “Red Hill” estate near Brookneal, Va.
   
   Bibliography
   Mayer, Henry. A Son of Thunder: Patrick Henry and the American Republic. New York: Grove Press, 2001; Tyler, Moses Coit. Patrick Henry. 1898. Reprint Edition. New York: Chelsea House, 1980.

2.   Biography of Patrick Henry, in Patrick Henry Voice of the American Revolution.
3.   Patrick Henry, in People of Williamsburg at history.org.

   [Last accessed 15 Oct 2012]
   Patrick Henry (Born 1736, died 1799)
   BIRTH DATE: May 29, 1736
   BIRTHPLACE: Hanover County, Virginia
   DEATH DATE: June 6, 1799
   PLACE OF DEATH: Red Hill Plantation, Virginia
   PARENTS: John and Sara Winston Henry
   EDUCATION: Educated by his father (including reading Latin). Studied law on his own
   OCCUPATION: Lawyer. Set up private practice in Hanover Courthouse, Virginia, in 1760
   OFFICES HELD: Delegate, Virginia House of Burgesses, 1765-1775; Member, Virginia Committee of Correspondence, 1773; Delegate, Continental Congress, 1774-1775; Delegate, Virginia Convention, 1776; Governor of Virginia, 1776-1779, 1784-1786; Delegate, Virginia Constitution Ratification Convention, 1788
   PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Red Hill Plantation
   SPOUSE: First wife--Sarah Shelton; second wife--Dorothea Dandridge
   MISCELLANEOUS: Patrick Henry was one of the most outspoken opponents of the Stamp Act. On May 29, 1765, he introduced seven radical resolutions in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Five of the seven resolutions were adopted on May 30, though one was reconsidered the next day (after Henry's departure) and removed. In May 1774, a message from the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence informed Virginians of the closing of the port of Boston. The Virginia House of Burgesses set aside June 1, 1774, as a day of "Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer" in support of the citizens of Boston. Governor Dunmore dissolved the assembly, but 89 of the Burgesses gathered at the Raleigh Tavern and, under Henry's leadership, proposed that all the colonies meet in a Continental congress. In April 1775, shortly after news reached Virginia that American colonists had clashed with British troops in Lexington, Massachusetts, Henry learned that Governor Dunmore had seized gunpowder from the Magazine in Williamsburg. Henry collected the militia of Hanover County and marched toward Williamsburg. He sent a message to the governor demanding that the gunpowder be returned to representatives of the colony. Governor Dunmore paid the Virginians money equal to the value of the powder, then issued a proclamation outlawing "a certain Patrick Henry" for disturbing the peace of the colony.

4.   Deposition of Patrick Henry, Jr, in Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745-1800. (Rosslyn, Virginia: The Commonwealth Printing Company, 1912-1913 in Three Volumes)
   Vol 1/[page needed].
5.   Patrick Henry, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.