Patrick Henry

A Radical Man with Treasonous Aspirations
History has portrayed Patrick Henry as a radical man, a title that few men can wear with ease yet, Patrick Henry, was synonymous with the word in the minds of colonists and British Empire. Even though many of us know Henry for his immortal words, we know very little about the hero that contributed greatly to the revolutionary cause. As we glimpse into the past, I hope to give you a brief look into the life of Patrick Henry as well as pop culture's take on the revolutionary icon. He, like so many of the founding fathers, by definition of the British empire, committed acts of treason in their fight for an ideal so radical that their beliefs set the keystone for the identity of the new nation that was about to emerge from the ruins of the American Revolutionary War. A Patriot and symbol in America's struggle for liberty, Patrick Henry was a lawyer, orator, and active participant in virtually every phase of the founding of America. His Stamp Act Resolutions are still at the epicenter of what many historians hail as the first shot fired in the Revolutionary War.

A Synopsis of Patrick Henry's Life
Patrick Henry was born in Hanover County, Virginia in 1736, to John and Sarah Winston Henry.   His family quickly became aware that he was not interested in becoming a farmer, and instead began to educate Patrick. John Henry educated young Patrick at home teaching Henry Latin. Patrick took on the study of law on his own. In 1760, he traveled to Williamsburg to take his attorney's examination, and from that day forward, Patrick Henry became indivisible from American history. In 1763, arguing the famed Parson's Cause in Hanover County, Patrick Henry proclaimed that a king who would veto a good and necessary law made by a local representative government was not a father to his people but "a tyrant who forfeits the allegiance of his subjects." Henry's oratory skills soon became his forte and used this skill to his... [continues]

Read full essay