“Give me liberty or
give me death.”
Patrick Henry
W
hy would I do a reflection on Patrick
Henry’s famous speech given in the
Virginia House in 1765? When you
read his words it no longer stands as a question.
Eloquent. Fiery. Dead on. Timeless. It’s this last
term--timeless--that makes it worth our reflection
today some 217 years later.
Patrick Henry is an interesting man. He failed
as a farmer but he succeeded as a lawyer and
politician and patriot to the American cause. What
cause? The cause to be free and rule themselves,
not in the beginning as an independent nation,
but in the end when there was no other option but
to separate from Briton.
Patrick was born in Virginia on May 29, 1736.
His father was from Scotland and settled in
Hanover County where he married Sarah Syme
from a prominent Hanover County family of
English ancestry.
In 1756 Patrick—who was 18—married sixteenyear-old Sarah Shelton and they had six children
together. Before he was 18, Patrick and his older
brother opened a store but it fail. After Patrick’s
marriage, his
in-laws
gave
him a 600-acre
farm and his
attempt
at
being a planter
also failed when
a fire destroyed
his home. Once
again he returned to shop keeping and once again
that proved unsuccessful. By his 24th birthday he
decided he wanted to be a lawyer.
In 1775, after twenty-one years of marriage,
Sarah died. The last years of her life she suffered
from mental illness. Two years later Patrick--now
age 41--married 22-year-old Dorthea Dandridge.
They would have eleven children.
Patrick was home-schooled and self-taught,
nevertheless he persuaded two distinguished
Virginia lawyers to help him pass the bar.
Henry’s notoriety first came in the Parson’s
Cause. Preachers were paid their annual salary in
tobacco because that was the going commodity at
the time. The value was two pennies per pound.
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immunities that have at any time been
held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people
of Great Britain.
Two years of drought caused tobacco prices to
sore and the Virginia legislature passed the TwoPenny-Act whereby preachers would be paid the
normal price, not the inflated short-term price.
This was taken to the Colonial governors in
England who voided the Two-Penny-Act. When
Hanover County was sued for back wages, Henry
was given the case to argue for the county. He
was so eloquent in his argument that the jury only
awarded the plaintiff one penny in damages.
2. Resolved, that by two royal charters,
granted by King James I, the colonists
aforesaid are declared entitled to all
liberties, privileges, and immunities of
denizens and natural subjects to all intents
and purposes as if they had been abiding
and born within the Realm of England.
What brought Henry to the attention of the
several colonies was the hated Stamp Act. To help
their colonies against the French, King George
sent masses of troops to lead the fight in what
we know as the French and Indian War. It cost
the British gobs of money. They were fighting
a war in Europe so their finances were being
stretched. Furthermore, the decision was to leave
the troops—some 10,000—in the colonies and the
Brits wanted the colonies to cover the expense of
the war and feeding and housing the troops.
3. Resolved, that the taxation of the
people by themselves, or by persons chosen
by themselves to represent them, who can
only know what taxes the people are able
to bear, or the easiest method of raising
them, and must themselves be affected by
every tax laid on the people, is the only
security against a burdensome taxation,
and the distinguishing characteristic of
British freedom, without which the ancient
constitution cannot exist.
On March 22,1765 the British Parliament passes
without any input from the colonies a Stamp
Act. All American colonists had to pay a tax on
every paper, such as all ship’s papers, all legal
documents, licenses, newspapers, even playing
cards. It was a direct tax without representation
and the greatest danger for the colonists was if
this tax stood it would pave the way for more and
more taxes without representation. This was the
straw that broke the camels back as they already
were suffering under the cider tax, the Sugar Act,
the Molasses Act (all taxes).
4. Resolved, that His Majesty’s liege
people of this his most ancient and loyal
colony have without interruption enjoyed
the inestimable right of being governed by
such laws, respecting their internal policy
and taxation, as are derived from their
own consent, with the approbation of their
sovereign, or his substitute; and that the
same has never been forfeited or yielded
up, but has been constantly recognized by
the kings and people of Great Britain.
5. Resolved, therefor that the General
Assembly of this Colony have the only and
exclusive Right and Power to lay Taxes and
Impositions upon the inhabitants of this
Colony and that every Attempt to vest such
Power in any person or persons whatsoever
other than the General Assembly aforesaid
has a manifest Tendency to destroy British
as well as American Freedom.
As a member of the Virginia House of
Burgesses, Henry introduced the Virginia Stamp
Act Resolutions. The Resolutions say this:
1. Resolved, that the first adventurers
and settlers of His Majesty’s colony and
dominion of Virginia brought with them
and transmitted to their posterity, and
all other His Majesty’s subjects since
inhabiting in this His Majesty’s said colony,
all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and
2
At this time in the colonies was begun
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the Committees of Correspondence. Through
these committees the thirteen colonies would
communicate with each other about issues
effecting them all, in particular issues with Briton
and what King George was stirring in the colonies.
Patrick Henry was the force behind Virginia
forming a Committee of Correspondence over the
Stamp Act.
Stamp Act, divorce wasn’t a serious thought by
either party. But the demands were too great and
the colonists knew it was only the beginning so
the wife concluded divorce was the only option.
The husband didn’t want a divorce. He wanted
to exact what he believed was due from the wife,
and payment for rebellion. This was the awful
moment facing the colonies. An impasse had
been reached and neither side believed there was
a peaceful solution because neither side believed
they could give in even an inch.
And then with the Virginia House of Burgesses
meeting on March 23,1775 in Saint John’s Church,
Patrick Henry gave his famous speech.
The questing before the House is one
of awful moment to this country. For my
own part, I consider it as nothing less than
a question of freedom or slavery; and in
proportion to the magnitude of the subject
ought to be the freedom of the debate.
For the wife, the issue was keeping the
freedom they had enjoyed for a century now or
go back into slavery. And it is here the words and
fear of Patrick Henry reach into our time. The
issue before us in 2012 and beyond is once again
freedom or slavery. Our slave master in no longer
Briton but ourselves. We, right now, are facing
our awful moment. The chains of government are
being wrapped around us as our own government
strips from us freedoms Patrick Henry fought for
himself and won for us. From 1913 on we have
allowed the government to reach into our pockets
and slip out a freedom here and there until now
it is the government that controls our life and not
we.
“A question of freedom or slavery.”
An “awful” moment fittingly defines their
existential moment—what they are immediately
experiencing. They are, and have been from the
beginning, thirteen British colonies. Of interest is
that these colonies were established as business
enterprises in the new world unlike Spanish
and French colonies that were established as
extensions of their nations. The thirteen colonies
were both independent from and dependent on
Briton. For a time the marriage worked. Keeping
the analogy going, Briton (the way it was spelled
back then) was the husband and the colonies the
wife. The marriage was tumultuous–between
the State and Puritans–so the husband let the
wife go off to a new world giving the wife great
freedom. They were still married, but it was a
separation benefiting both. In time the husband
began placing ever more demands on the wife,
demands this independent wife thought unfair.
In the French and Indian War the husband had to
defend the wife, after which the husband felt it
was time to choke back the wife’s independence.
Well, the wife had tasted real freedom and did not
want to relinquish it.
Until this last set of demands that included the
Mr. President, it is natural to man to
indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt
to shut our eyes against a painful truth,
and listen to the song of that siren till she
transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of
wise men, engaged in a 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.
Illusion of hope.
3
Hope: “the feeling that what is wanted can be
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oh so right. Their tongues are golden. They can
talk the devil into buying shares in an ice factory
even though they know the ice will turn into
steam never cooling hell down.
had or that events will turn out for the best: to
give up hope.” (dictionary.com)
One day I climbed high up into the very large
magnolia tree in the front yard. From my perch
I could see a quarter-mile away over the tops
of the peach trees on the farm where I lived.
I could see the intersection of Minnewawa (a
north-south street) and Shepherd (an east-west
street with a stop sign at the intersection). My
attention was drawn to two cars, one traveling
fast going north on Minnewawa, the other going
fast west on Shepherd. I didn’t need to do a quick
mathematical equation to know that if the car
traveling on Shepherd didn’t slow down they
were going to crash into each other. I hoped they
wouldn’t crash.
Patrick Henry saw those in his day that were
being enchanted, who, in an illusion of hope chose
to believe they weren’t losing their freedoms.
Today, in the face of so much concrete evidence,
too many are again being enchanted believing
the lie that the freedoms already lost, and those
in danger of going away, serve really to make us
better people. Henry must have been seriously
frustrated because false hope is bad in itself, its
disastrous when it leads to inaction. That’s why
he felt he needed to speak forcefully, to wake
up the lulled and bring them back into reality.
As I look around the same nation generations
later, my frustration matches Henry’s. It’s born
knowing that so many have ears but they refuse
to hear, they have eyes but they refuse to see.
Patrick Henry looked across the colonies, at
the list of demands from Briton, at the numbers
of British troops and their behavior and knew
there was only one outcome in the near future.
What he also knew was that too many colonists
had an illusion of hope. They hoped King George
would ease up on his demands. They hoped that
life would be as it always was. They hoped the
Redcoats would hug them then board their ships
and return to England. They hoped.
The French and Indian War (in England it
was called the Seven Years War lasting from 1754
to 1763) was the catalyst for change in the New
World. For the first time it put massive British
troops in the colonies. It is one thing to deal
with Briton when the bulk of Briton is in Briton,
another when a good portion of it is on your soil.
It was a tipping point for the Americans because
for the first time they were militarily challenged—
having never fought any major engagements
since their founding—and though they were not
the lead army they did participate greatly in the
war. Out of this came an understanding that if
they had to fight, they could, and they could win.
It was the first time the colonies were truly united
and they learned that united they could stand.
I don’t know which is more destructive,
burying your head in the sand afraid to look at
reality, or believing things will just naturally work
out for the best when everything says different.
Despite evidence to the contrary, too many
colonists were hoping against hope the British
troops would leave and King George relent on
taxation without representation. Their hope was
illusionary, not real.
Patrick likened these colonists as listening
to sirens. “In Greek mythology, the Sirens were
dangerous creatures, portrayed as femme fatales
who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting
music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast
of their island.” (From wikipedia.com.) Sirens
know what they are going to do to you. They lure
you with their sweet voice, with words that sound
4
Some results of this Seven Years War were
that now Britain controlled Canada. Spain traded
Florida for Cuba and Spain also got Louisiana
and New Orleans. In the Royal Proclamation of
1763 from King George III, the land west of the
Appalachians were reserved for the Indians. This
miffed the colonists because they participated
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and feed British soldiers if necessary.
in this war to open up these territories for
exploration and expansion. The war doubled
Britain’s national debt, from 75 million pounds to
133 million pounds.
The British Parliament was hell-bent into
forcing this recalcitrant wife (the thirteen colonies)
back into submission and anyone with eyes to see
and ears to hear knew this.
There was another sore thumb issue and it
surrounded the Molasses Tax of 1733. The British
Parliament passed a six pence tax per gallon on
molasses farmed outside British colonies. The six
pence wasn’t to increase British coffers, it was
to make molasses produced outside the colonies
more expensive, therefore cheaper (relatively
cheaper) for the colonists to purchase molasses
from the British West Indies rather than the French
West Indies.
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. Patrick Henry didn’t want to have any
illusions of hope, the cost was too great.
Better to pay the price of knowing the
truth, then acting on it than believing in
false hope just because that’s the way you
wanted it when all the signs are clear that
the chains of slavery are winding around
the colonies.
Because at the time it was less expensive for
the middle colonies to purchase their molasses
from the French, they weren’t buying it from
the British. I know what you’re thinking, Man,
they must really like pancakes to buy so much
molasses. Actually, the molasses was the main
ingredient in rum. Those pesky colonists, though,
didn’t like the idea of Britain trying to force them
to trade only with that small island across the
pond. So they either refused to pay the tax or they
bootlegged smuggled molasses in from French
West Indies. Just a few other issues to stir the pot
of discontent:
The nation Henry help found two centuries
later is not just back to the same place, but worse,
we are already in chains of slavery. All that is
left is the tightening of those chains. We have
allowed ourselves to be convinced (the illusion
of hope) that the State (politicians) knows better
how we should live than we do. We hoped that
a nanny state would usher in a utopia, but it is
like that worst overbearing parent that to protect
us controls us. Somehow we’ve come to believe a
special few knows better than an un-special many.
This nation is crumbling because the few have no
more special insight than the many. The power of
controlling has become a lust of controlling. And
this lust for control has not stayed with the State,
it has invaded our businesses and in the name of
doing good many businesses are now controlling
their employees just like that overbearing parent.
Those who cry loudly for free speech stop any
speech that is different from theirs. Chaos is
everywhere and growing and those who have
eyes to see and ears to hear all too painfully know
this.
1764 - Sugar Act
This act raised revenue by increasing duties on
sugar imported from the West Indies.
1764 - Currency Act
Parliament argued that colonial currency had
caused a devaluation harmful to British trade.
They banned American assemblies from issuing
paper bills or bills of credit.
1764 - Committees of Correspondence
Organized by Samuel Adams, these helped
spread propaganda and information through
letters.
1765 - Quartering Act
Britain ordered that colonists were to house
How interesting that Patrick Henry spoke not
only for his generation, he also speaks for ours in
the 21st Century.
5
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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 of the future
but by the past. And judging by the past,
I wish to know what there has been in
the conduct of the In Greek mythology,
the Sirens (Greek singular: Seirēn; Greek
plural: Seirēnes) were dangerous creatures,
portrayed as femme fatales who lured
nearby sailors with their enchanting music
and voices to shipwreck on the rocky
coast of their island. British ministry for
the last ten years to justify those hopes
with which gentlemen have been pleased
to solace themselves and the House. Is
it that insidious smile with which our
petition has been lately received? Trust it
not, sir; it will prove a snare to 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 arguments to which kings resort. I ask
gentlemen, sir, what means this martial
array, if its purpose 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 to 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 humble
supplication? What terms shall we find
which have not been already exhausted?
Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive
ourselves. Sir, we have done everything
that could be done to avert the storm which
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
those 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 it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to
arms and to the God of hosts is all that is
left us!
6
That wise Solomon wrote that there was
nothing new under the sun. Well, in the beginning
everything was new, but after that everything
was just a different play off that new. That great
invention, the iPad, is nothing more than a larger
iPhone screen that is an iPod with a phone that is
nothing more than a smart MP3 player and so on.
When I was growing up we had nothing of this.
We had from our parents the 78 speed record, then
the 33 1/3, then the 45 speed which was a third
the size of the larger vinyl records. Then came the
large reel-to-real tape recorder, then the compact
cassette and so on. My children know nothing
of the reel-to-reel nor the mechanical typewriter
but they have the iPad and iPhone and iPod and
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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 arguments to which
kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means
this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us
to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other
possible motive for it?”
internet only because of what came before it and
what gave it shape.
History is the now being built off the past
recorded so we in the future can review the past
for understanding of how to shape the now.
George Santyana’s dictum that those who don’t
study history are doomed to repeat it, could also
be put into a positive that those who learn from
history learn how to do things right. History is
a teacher where you can learn what worked and
what didn’t. Experience is our personal walk
through history. One of the greatest things I miss
from my mother and father no longer being with
us is calling them and asking them questions:
How do I do this or that? What do you think of
this or that? My son and daughter use me in the
same way and it will be something they will miss.
They say one thing yet act in a contrary way.
Isn’t this the way it is now? We are promised if we
give up our rights, our speech, our money to fix
every ill in society it will be done. And what have
we gained? The loss of our freedom. The loss of
free speech. The loss of our money. Lies that are
made to sound like truth are still lies. We have
a president who is not a president of the United
States but only of those who share his ideology,
everyone else is an enemy. His words. We have
foxes (radicals) put in charge of the hen house
who are devouring the hens (freedom). When the
president has a Teleprompter in from of him every
word sounds eloquent and right and if we are not
asking questions we quickly believe those lies. As
Glenn Beck demonstrated using the president’s
own words, he has blatantly made up lies about
himself and his family according to the audience
before him so they identify with him and support
whatever he wants to do. No one until now has
been asking the questions of why he lies so much
and why do we let him get away with it. Is this
really the kind of person we want as president,
one who is a liar? How can we trust anything he
says?
Einstein, it is said, defined insanity as doing the
same thing over and over hoping to get different
results. In the 1900s we began playing with
European socialism. Today it is being rammed
down our throats. Why, when it is so obviously
failing in Europe, are we doing something history
and experience teaches us it doesn’t work?
Henry tells his fellow Virginians, “I know of
no way of judging of the future but by the past”.
Henry knew the behavioral pattern of the British
Parliament, of King George, of British troops in the
colonies. There was only going to be one outcome
in the future, slavery to Briton.
In that first Continental Congress they
petitioned the British Parliament for redress and
representation. It was well received, but Henry
cautioned the audience; “Is it that insidious smile
with which our petition has been lately received?
Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to 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
This is what Henry is telling his audience, the
Brits talk a good game but their behavior tells
the truth. They say what you want to hear all the
while knowing they are going to do what they
intend to do.
Henry assures them that everything has been
tried to stop their slide back into slavery to Briton.
And here is the obvious conclusion: “There is no
longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if
we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable
7
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equal in the marriage. The husband (Briton) had
also changed. Caught up in a hundred years war
in Europe, the husband was desperate for money
to remain strong. In a troubled marriage there is
that point of no return when not even marriage
counseling will save it because both parties have so
redefined themselves without the other that there
is no will to go back. Briton wanted to save the
marriage but only if the wife was a slave. Henry
recognized Briton would never soften its demands
and it was time to stop talking and dissolve the
marriage. As Briton would not accept an amicable
separation, all that was left was to pick up the gun
and force the separation. Stop talking and start
fighting because that was the only option.
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
it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the
God of hosts is all that is left us!”
The time for hope is past. They did not want to
reach this moment, the moment when their only
hope was rebellion and taking up arms. There is
a “point of no return”. The illusion of hope is that
there is never a point of no rerun, at any time up
to the end it can always be walked back.
For us today in the 21st century America,
there is bad news and good news. First, the bad
news. Our government has become the Briton of
Henry’s day. That Constitution that Henry and
so many others fought and died for, the one that
created the greatest nation on earth, is now just
words on paper locked away and mostly ignored.
We, the people, allowed the government to chip
off pieces of the Constitution believing they were
but small chips and was basically harmless. It
is true that small infractions doesn’t change the
whole. But there is that moment when enough
small infractions are allowed that the next one tips
the balance and having gone past that point of no
return now the whole if fundamentally changed.
Today, our modern president began his term
stating he would talk with Iran over their nuke
program and he would convince them it was
in their best interest to stop building nukes.
He believed the hard stand of past presidents
hurt, not help convince Iran to abandon nuclear
weapons. I believe this president is sincere in
wanting a nuke-free Iran. But history, you know,
those accumulated experiences, clearly tells us
Iran has no intention of stopping their nuke
program because they have visions of ruling the
world. They are good at playing word games and
our current president plays right into their game,
and they are winning. You see, this president, and
so many others, believe that right up to that point
they push the button sending the nuke skyward
Iran will see the light and change their ways.
Not going to happen. Nothing short of a physical
attack on their facilities will stop them.
When Briton stationed troops in the colonies,
Henry knew the point of no return had been
passed. (As for Iran, a couple of presidents ago
that point was reached but no one wanted to
admit it and do the hard thing.)
Going back to the marriage metaphor, the
wife (the colonies) had over the century redefined
herself and was no longer the same wife. Her
loyalties had softened to the husband, mostly
because the husband never treated her as an
8
The other night I was watching one of those
lawyer shows on television and two lawyers were
arguing a law and the judge said, “Isn’t it great that
the Constitution is a living, breathing document.”
First of all the judge’s statement didn’t fit the
scene, but the writer wanted to make the statement
discrediting the Constitution having meaning
outside what we want it to say. And secondly, that
such a statement can so effortlessly be thrown into
a conversation as thought it were fundamentally
true and didn’t need arguing demonstrates just
how far the separation is between the America
of today from the one created in 1776 beginning
with the Declaration of Independence. We have
become politically and morally confused as a
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nation and tragically that is by design. There are
those who want to fundamentally transform this
nation out of a constitutional republic (and they
have) into a dysfunctional democracy where the
few can control the many. We are no longer a
nation governed by the rule of law but by the rule
of men.
Just like Patrick Henry knew, we are past the
point of easily returning without great cost. Now,
the good news: while what our Founders created
had to come with the gun, there is enough of the
Constitution left that the most powerful weapon
we need is the ballot box. But we must give up
that illusionary hope that our leaders will change
and recognize there error, they won’t. We have so
many leaders who are driven by their idealism, an
idealism of Marxism/Socialism/Progressivism
that they cannot see anything else, even though
all that idealism has always failed wherever it
ruled. The tentacles of control are so deep they are
not going to come out on their own and we must
stand with Henry and say: “If we wish to be free-if we mean to preserve inviolate those 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
it, sir, we must fight!” For us, because we still have
enough of the Constitution left, it means arming
ourselves with truth and using the sword of our
truth, our finger, and push the button removing
both Democrat and Republican or whatever the
name of their party and replacing them with true
representatives who represent both us and the
Constitution, But it is not that simple. There is
now so much that has to be dismantled it will not
happen without great trial. And we are so deep in
debt that is will cost all of us something now so it
won’t cost our children later. And we can never
again become complacent and assume those we
charge with representing us will remain true. This
is a government of “we the people” and not some
of the people. We must always sleep with one eye
open.
Finally:
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the
matter. Gentlemen may 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!
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be
purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
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