SPEECH ON A RESOLUTION TO PUT VIRGINIA INTO A STATE OF DEFENSE PATRICK HENRY The British government had taxed the colonies without representation besides heaping many other indignities upon them. The whole country was finally aroused to a state of the highest excitement. The Virginia convention assembled on March 28, 1775, to decide whether Virginia should be put into a state of defense. When a resolution to do this was offered, Patrick Henry (1736-1799), a young Virginia lawyer, one of a group of eloquent orators of that time, arose and delivered this famous speech. After reading it, you will understand how he created the wildest enthusiasm on this occasion. In old St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, a brass tablet marks the spot where he stood when delivering this speech. See also: Morgan's The True Patrick Henry. Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry. MR. PRESIDENT, it is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and to listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men engaged in the great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who having eyes see not, and having ears hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging 1 Circe, the enchantress who turned Ulysses' men into swine and other loathsome beasts. your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation, the last argument to which kings resort. I ask, sir, what means this martial array, if its purposes be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us. They can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British Ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and supplication? What terms shall we find that have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could have been done to avert the storm that is now coming on. We have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated, we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the Ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted, our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult, our supplications have been disregarded, and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate these inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us. They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election.1 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, sir, let it come! Gentlemen may It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. 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! What is the question before the House? What does the speaker say of the condition of affairs in the colonies? What figure is the "lamp of experience"? How had the colonies acted towards the mother country for ten years? Where does Patrick Henry state his opponents' arguments? Notice his reasons for expecting success in the contest. What part of the speech do you think would be most inspiring to his hearers? When was the Declaration of Independence proclaimed? Have any sentences in that as much vigor as some in this speech? SUGGESTIONS FOR ORAL AND WRITTEN ENGLISH Tell what interested you most in a public speech you have heard. Write a short speech nominating for class president a classmate. Think carefully over all the qualities your friend has which will make him a good leader. Arrange the points so that the best will come last. If you know of any qualities that others may object to, try to think of something that will counterbalance them. Make a spirited speech, full of enthusiasm, so that you will persuade others to agree with you. If you want to go somewhere on "school night," think what arguments you can use to persuade your mother to let you go. Perhaps you have prepared your lessons, or you have a first-hour study period. Arrange your points in the order of the weight you think they will have with your mother, or with your father. Write a speech opposing the nomination of some one who in spite of his good qualities lacks one that makes for success in that particular position. Write a defense of some one — without mentioning the name that you dislike. You have not prepared your lesson; state your reasons clearly and forcibly, using Patrick Henry's method of repetition, and of reserving his best points for the last. You want a camera, or a new golf stick, or a new hat which your parents think unnecessary; state your arguments in the most effective order. State, in a way to conciliate, if possible, your opponents, your reasons for preferring a certain style of school pin, or school motto. Debate: The Editor of a School Paper Must Have High Class Standing. The United States Should Have a Standing Army. |