Patrick Henry Research Paper

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A boy who grew up as a privileged middle to upper-class in society, Patrick Henry later became a very influential part of the United States and helped form it into the union we now have today.
Patrick Henry was a Virginia lawyer and politician, who is famous for his words “Give me liberty or give me death.” He was born May 29, 1736 in Cedar Hill, Hanover County., Virginia, and died June 6, 1799 in Red Hill Plantation, Virginia. He grew up attending a local school until he was 10 years old, when his father John Henry started tutoring him. As a child he was a storekeeper for a short time, but he was a bad businessman who failed twice in seven years. He was soon in a significant amount of debt and had to marry Sarah Shelton at a young age to …show more content…

Henry urged the house to assemble for military action against the intruding British military force. In March 1773 Henry, along with Thomas Jefferson and Richard Henry Lee, moved into the House to make resolutions to create a standing committee of correspondents. Henry's first biographer, William Wirt stated that Henry ended his important speech with these words, “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!” To Wirt’s account the crown jumped and shouted “To Arms! To Arms!” In August 1775, Henry became colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment. During the start of the Revolutionary War, Henry led armed forces against Royal Governor Lord Dunmore in hopes of disputed gunpowder. He served as the first post-colonial Governor of Virginia during the war and controlled several invasions of Cherokee Indian …show more content…

In 1794, he and his wife, Dorothea retired to his 520 acre plantation called Red Hill. Here, he continued to practice law.
Patrick Henry was a poor business man but, in spite of this, he was a great political leader, and his words inspired a lot of

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