I missed the anniversary of Henry’s famous speech, but I was prompted by a Prager U video received this morning in my email. Since this year is the 250th anniversary of the first steps to forming the United States of America, I will try to follow and commemorate those steps.
On March 23, 1775, inside St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia stood at the edge of war. For ten years, tensions with Britain had been building — from the Stamp Act to the Boston Massacre to the Intolerable Acts. Now, the colony had to decide: prepare for peace… or prepare for battle.
In this episode of Road to Liberty, we step inside the Second Virginia Convention, where Patrick Henry rose before more than 100 delegates — including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson — and delivered the words that would echo through history.
By a narrow margin, the Convention voted to raise and arm Virginia’s militia — the first critical step toward revolution. Within weeks, Paul Revere would ride. Shots would be fired at Lexington and Concord. The American Revolution would begin.
The speech is best known for the impassioned declaration: “Give me liberty or give me death!”
No verbatim transcript exists, as the speech was not recorded at the time. The version widely known today was reconstructed by William Wirt in 1817 based on recollections of elderly witnesses.
The speech, as we know it today:
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