Patrick henry who is

Reelected twice for one-year terms, as limited by law, he served as governor until June , and was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson. Henry was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in , and emerged as one of the most influential members of the assembly. During this time, however, Virginia politicians began to split into two distinct factions, Anti-Federalist and Federalist, and Henry often found himself in conflict with James Madison , the leader of the latter faction.

Henry and Madison clashed over the separation of church and state. Though he was committed to religious freedom, Henry opposed a complete separation; Madison advocated complete, unregulated freedom of thought. When Henry, who had been reelected to a fourth term as governor in , introduced his plan for a tax to support Christian teachers—a plan that was met with ambivalence and debate among the assembly—Madison seized the opportunity to rally support for the Jefferson-penned Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom.

Henry was denied a direct voice in the legislature when he was reelected to a fifth term as governor in November , and in the bill passed, severing the connection between church and state in Virginia. The main issue over which Henry and Madison differed, however, was the role the federal government should play in the new nation.

As late as Henry pushed to strengthen the Articles of Confederation. Henry was elected to but declined to attend the Constitutional Convention of , where the Articles of Confederation would be revised.

The delegates elected to decide the fate of the Constitution at the Virginia Convention of were closely divided over its merits. Henry and George Mason led the Anti-Federalists in debate, marshaling a wide array of arguments against the plan, all rooted in the conviction that the existing document created a government too powerful, too centralized, and too distant from its citizens.

Henry was especially wary of the powers granted to the new executive. The army is in his hands, and … where is the existing force to punish him?

Can he not, at the head of his army, beat down every opposition? Will not absolute despotism ensue? An ailing Henry retired from active politics in , and many of his old supporters joined the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Jefferson and Madison. In December Virginia finally ratified the first ten amendments to the Constitution, which by then were largely regarded as toothless paper guarantees. In Henry worked with John Marshall to defend a Virginia physician in a suit by a British merchant house to recover prewar debts.

The case turned on complexities of international law arising from the American Revolution, the Treaty of Paris, and the new Constitution. And, again, though the plaintiff won, Henry and Marshall did much to mitigate the judgment against their clients.

Washington finally convinced Henry to return to politics in , after the controversial Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions had been passed.

Written in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts of , which gave the president authority to deport or imprison immigrants, and restricted speech against the government, these resolutions championed state intervention against unconstitutional acts of the federal government and hinted at secession. Henry stood again for election to the House of Delegates in the spring of He delivered his last public speech, a call for national union, at Charlotte Court House on election day.

He was sixty-three years old. Henry left a small envelope, sealed with wax, with his last will and testament. Inside was a single sheet of paper on which were copied his resolutions against the Stamp Act. On the back, he left a message to posterity. It began with a brief comment about his resolutions against the Stamp Act. If they are wise, they will be great and happy.

If they are of a contrary Character, they will be miserable … Reader! With a public career that spanned three tumultuous decades, Henry ranks high among the major figures of the American Revolution, yet he held no national office except his seat in the Continental Congress. In , he secured his law license. He and Shelton had six children together. As a lawyer, Henry developed a reputation as a powerful and persuasive speaker with the case known as "Parson's Cause.

Henry spoke out against the minister when the case went to a jury to decide damages. Pointing out the greed and royal interference in colonial matters associated with this legal decision, he managed to convince the jury to grant the lowest possible award—one farthing, or one penny.

In , Henry won the election to the House of Burgesses. He proved himself to be an early voice of dissent against Britain's colonial policies. During the debate over the Stamp Act of , which effectively taxed every type of printed paper used by the colonists, Henry spoke out against the measure. He insisted that only the colony itself should be able to levy taxes on its citizens. Some in the assembly cried out that his comments were treason, but Henry was unfazed.

His suggestions for handling the matter were printed and distributed to other colonies, helping to spur on the growing discontent with British rule. An active force in the growing rebellion against Britain, Henry had the remarkable ability to translate his political ideology into the language of the common man.

He was selected to serve as a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in There, he met Samuel Adams and, together, they stoked the fires for revolution. During the proceedings, Henry called for the colonists to unite in their opposition to British rule: "The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers and New Englanders, are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American. The following year, Henry gave perhaps the most famous speech of his career.

He was one of the attendees of the Virginia Convention in March The group was debating how to resolve the crisis with Great Britain—through force or through peaceful ends. Henry sounded the call to arms, saying, "Our brethren are already in the field! Self-taught and barely prepared, Henry persuaded the panel of distinguished Virginia attorneys, Wythe and Randolph, that he had the intelligence to warrant admission to the bar. With his energy and talents, and some encouragement from his influential family, Patrick Henry established a thriving practice in the courts of Hanover and adjacent counties.

Clergymen of the established Anglican church and other public officials in colonial Virginia received their annual salaries in tobacco — 16, pounds per year for a clergyman. For decades the market price of tobacco had been about 2 cents a pound, but severe droughts in and drove the price of tobacco much higher. Eventually, the parsons appealed to colonial authorities in England, who overruled the Virginia statute and declared it void.

This action aroused controversy over the nature of British authority within the colony. In a fervent oration that criticized the established clergy and challenged British authority, Henry persuaded the jurors of Hanover County to grant token damages of only one penny. Henry and entrenched leadership of the House of Burgesses agreed on the constitutional grounds for opposing the Stamp Act, but Henry was more outspoken and direct in his opposition to the Parliamentary taxation.

Despite cries of treason from more cautious burgesses, his spirited remarks achieved their effect. With attendance at the session thinned by the early departure of many members, Henry introduced and carried five of an intended seven resolutions, finding it necessary to hold back two of the stronger ones that faced defeat. As tensions between the colonists and the British government persisted during the next few years, Henry remained a member of the Burgesses, occasionally challenging the older leaders but always joining them in opposition to British policies.

His public career was balanced by the needs of a growing family and his law practice. As the imperial crisis mounted after the Boston massacre of , Henry in joined with other Virginians in the establishment of intercolonial committees of correspondence.

Early in the session, he demonstrated his powers as a speaker when he asserted that the old governments and colonial boundaries were swept away.

When Congress adjourned on August 1, Henry set out for home and never again to hold a continental or national office. When Sarah Henry died sometime in early , Henry resumed an active leadership role in the Revolution, particularly at the second Virginia Convention at Richmond in March The Virginia delegates were divided between those who wanted only a peaceful solution to the imperial dispute and those who also were ready to prepare for military resistance.

Henry led the call for preparedness and introduced a resolution to that effect. On April 20, l he dispatched a small force of British marines to seize powder and guns stored in the Public Magazine in Williamsburg. The raiders were discovered, but the attempt aroused violent sentiments that threatened to explode into bloodshed. Until the armies were reorganized under continental control and Henry was to be placed under a man, he previously outranked, obviously slighted, he resigned his position.

He never saw action during the war and returned to Virginia. The former commander returned to his old post at the Fifth Virginia Convention. During this Convention, he produced a resolution urging all colonies to seek independence. The resolution was unanimously passed, and the Convention sent a copy to Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia, it specifically instructed Jefferson to seek independence. The resolution must have helped, as it was Jefferson who would pen the Declaration of Independence.

Henry helped to construct the state constitution and on June 29, , the Convention elected him the first governor of independent Virginia. The governor used his power during the war to help his friend George Washington, recruiting troops for the cause and sending supplies to Valley Forge during the infamous winter.

Henry served three consecutive terms, the maximum amount allowed by the Virginia constitution and returned to his home in Leatherwood.

He continued to work in the government helping on the county court and advising the new governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson. He was offered to be elected a delegate to Congress but declined due to health issues. Henry was re-elected governor in , although this term was much less eventful than his first term. He notably stopped some citizens in southern Virginia from attempting to create a new state with parts of North Carolina. After his second term as governor, he continued to be active politically, notably in his opposition to the Constitution.

Though he did not serve at the Constitutional Convention, he was offered a place at the Convention but refused, Henry fought hard against the proposed United States Constitution. George Washington brought a copy of the Constitution to Henry urging him to support it at the Virginia Ratifying Convention.