Samuel Adams And Patrick Henry

The Declaration of Independence

When in the course of human events . . .

USHistory Domicile
Introduction
Document
A Reading
Signers
Related Information
Jefferson'south Account
Annunciation House
Declaration Timeline
Rev. War Timeline
More than Resources
Lesson Plan

Patrick Henry

Virginia House of Burgesses

Built-in:	May 29, 1736
Birthplace:	Hanover Canton, Virginia
Education:	(Lawyer, Politician)
Piece of work:	Elected to Virginia House of Burgesses, 1765; Admitted to the Bar of the Full general Court in Virginia, 1769; Elected to the Continental Congress, 1774; Virginia Militia Leader, 1775; Governor of Virginia, 1776-1778, 1784.
Died:	June half dozen, 1799

Patrick Henry

"Radical," is a championship that few men can wear with ease. The name Patrick Henry, during the revolution and for some time after, was synonymous with that word in the minds of colonists and Empire alike. Henry's reputation equally a passionate and peppery orator exceeded even that of Samuel Adams. His Stamp Act Resolutions were, arguably, the start shot fired in the Revolutionary War.

Patrick Henry's personality was a curious antidote to the stern honour of Washington, the refined logic of Jefferson, and the well-tempered industry of Franklin. Immature Henry was an idler and by many accounts a derelict; though anybody knew he was bright, he simply would not lift a finger except to his own pleasure. By the age of 10, his family knew that he would non exist a farmer, and tried instead to railroad train him toward academic studies, but he would not utilise himself schoolwork either. He married at 18 and at age 21 his father set up him up in a business that he quickly bankrupted. Finally the general public disgust in Hanover and pressure level from his young family caused him to study for 6 weeks and accept the bar examination, which he passed, and begin work equally a lawyer.

In 1764 he moved to Louisa canton, Virginia, where, as a lawyer, he argued in defence force of broad voting rights (suffrage) before the House of Burgesses. The following year he was elected to the Firm and soon became its leading radical member. It was that yr that he proposed the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions. Few members of the Burgesses, as aloof a grouping of legislators as existed in the colonies, would argue openly for defiance of Cracking Uk. Henry argued with remarkable eloquence and fervor in favor of the five acts, which by near accounts amounted to a treason confronting the female parent country. In 1774 he represented Virginia in the First Continental Congress where he continued in the role of firebrand. At the outbreak of the revolution, he returned to his native land and lead militia in defense of Virginia's gunpowder store, when the purple Governor spirited it aboard a British ship. Henry forced the Governor Lord Dunmore to pay for the powder at fair price.

In 1776, Henry was elected Governor of Virginia, and re-elected twice, serving 3 sequent i-twelvemonth terms. In 1779 he was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson. He was once again elected to the office in 1784. Patrick Henry was a stiff critic of the constitution proposed in 1787. He was in favor of the strongest possible government for the individual states, and a weak federal government. He was too very disquisitional of the fact that the convention was conducted in secret.

President Washington appointed him Secretary of Country in 1795, just Henry declined the role. In 1799, President Adams appointed him envoy to French republic, but failing wellness required him to decline this office as well. He died on June 6, 1799 at age of 63.