In , Great Britain passed the first of a series of taxes to help pay for the growing costs of defending the American colonies. The Stamp Act of required American colonists to pay a small tax on every piece of paper they used.
Colonists viewed the Stamp Act—an attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without approval from colonial legislatures—as a troublesome precedent. Patrick Henry responded to the Stamp Act with a series of resolutions introduced to the Virginia legislature in a speech. The resolves declared that Americans should be taxed only by their own representatives and that Virginians should pay no taxes except those voted on by the Virginia legislature.
Later in the speech, Henry flirted with treason when he hinted that the King risked suffering the same fate as Julius Caesar if he maintained his oppressive policies.
Patrick Henry delivering his great speech on the Rights of the Colonies, before the Virginia Assembly, convened at Richmond, March 23, George Washington , Thomas Jefferson and five of the six other Virginians who would later sign the Declaration of Independence were in attendance that day. Royal Governor Lord Dunmore responded to the speech by removing gunpowder from the magazine. Henry spoke without notes. No transcripts exist from his famous address. The only known version of the speech was reconstructed in an biography of Henry by author William Wirt, leading some historians to speculate that the famous Patrick Henry quote may have been fabricated by Wirt to sell copies of his book.
Patrick Henry married his first wife, Sarah Shelton, in , and the two went on to have six children together. He married Dorothea Dandridge of Tidewater, Virginia, two years later and their union produced eleven children. Henry and other Anti-Federalists opposed the ratification of the United States Constitution , which created a strong federal government.
Patrick Henry worried that a federal government that was too powerful and too centralized could evolve into a monarchy. While the Anti-Federalists were unable to stop the ratification of the U. The first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, protected individual liberties and placed limits on the powers of the federal government.
Besides a brief stint as a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress —the United States government during the American Revolution—Patrick Henry never held national public office. Patrick Henry: A Biography.
New York: McGraw-Hill, Mayer, Henry. New York: Grove Press, Unger, Harlow G. New York: Da Capo Press, Podcast Mount Vernon Everywhere! Learn More. Ben Wynne, Ph. Meade, Robert D. Patrick Henry. Philadelphia: Lippencott, Two volumes. Back to Main menu Center for Digital History.
Henry then tried his hand at farming tobacco, but found himself to be unsuccessful in that endeavor. After their farmhouse burned down, Henry and his first wife, Sarah Shelton, moved in with her parents.
He passed the bar exam after studying for just six weeks and began a successful legal and political career in The people of Virginia passed a law called the Two Penny Act that set Anglican ministers salaries at two cents per pound of tobacco. This was in response to a three-year drought that lowered tobacco crop yields. James Maury, a local Hanover County parson, objected to the law because the market rate was four to six cents a pound. He sued for damages and appealed to the King of England, who vetoed the law.
Henry was the lawyer for Hanover County in the lawsuit regarding the damages. He effectively argued in favor of the law and compared the king to a tyrant for vetoing laws passed by a local legislature. He convinced the jury to award the parson only one penny in damages. As a result of this case, Henry earned a reputation for being a powerful and persuasive orator. The case is seen as one of the pivotal events leading to the American Revolution. Henry vehemently opposed the Stamp Act of That same year, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
Nine days after assuming his seat, he introduced the Virginia Stamp Acts Resolutions, which claimed that according to British law American colonists could only be taxed by a parliamentary body in which they had elected representatives. During his speech introducing the legislation, Henry used language that prompted other burgesses to accuse him of treason.
When the British closed the port of Boston in response to the Boston Tea Party, the Virginia House of Burgesses declared June 1, would be a day of fasting and prayer in support for the people of Boston.
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