do you know much about Patrick Henry beyond his name who was he and what
was his role in the American Revolution I'll talk about his fascinating story on
today's episode of the ancestral findings podcast
Patrick Henry is a name you often hear associated with the American Revolution but how much do you
really know about who he was and what role he played in the conflict you may know he is the
one associated with the famous quote give me liberty or give me death however he surely must
have contributed more to the revolutionary cause than just a quote we can put on calendars mugs and
t-shirts today in fact Henry was a big player in the American Revolution and in the forming
of the new government of the United States after it here's what you need to know about
this interesting historical man born May 29th 17:36 in Hanover County Virginia Henry was the
son of John Henry and Sarah Winston John was an immigrant from Aberdeenshire Scotland who came to
the colonies in the 1720s upon his arrival in Virginia John married Sarah Winston a wealthy
widow whose first husband had been a sign Sarah's family descended from a prominent line of English
ancestors with Sarah's wealth from her family and her first marriage she and John were able
to provide a solidly middle-class upbringing for Patrick among the Virginia landed gentry Patrick
Henry was not as well educated as some of his revolutionary peers but only because he does not
seem to have had a proclivity for academics as many of them did he went to local schools until
he grew bored with them then he was tutored by his University educated father once his schooling was
done he tried to start a business but it was not successful with nothing more to recommend him than
a moderate amount of wealth and prominent family connections Patrick Henry married Sarah Shelton in
1754 in the parlor of her family's house Sarah's father gave her and Patrick six slaves as a
wedding gift along with one of his properties the 300 acre pine slash farm just outside
Mechanicsville by virtue of his marriage Patrick Henry moved up the ranks of Virginia's xiety by
becoming a slave owner and a landowner thanks to his father-in-law however even given this
substantial boost in starting their married life together things did not go smoothly for Patrick
and Sarah Henry the farm was small and so Patrick worked in the fields alongside the slaves the land
had already been ruined for tobacco planting by over planting it there when Patrick was given it
so he could never get the land to yield profitable crops then their main house burned forcing them
to move to a 20 by 60 foot cabin with an attic on the property when that proved to be too small for
their growing family Patrick and Sarah moved into a tavern owned by Sarah's father and eventually
sold the land he gave them in 1764 after this Patrick Henry began practicing as a lawyer he
and Sarah had six children together and were able to buy another plantation in 1771 however Sarah
became insane and died in 1775 Patrick remarried in 1777 to 22 year old Dorothea Dandridge Patrick
was 41 at the time of their marriage they had 11 children together and he was elected as governor
of Virginia for two terms during their marriage it was during his tenure as governor that he
began his political and revolutionary career though he first made a revolutionary statement
more than a decade prior just after becoming a lawyer he argued a case for the state of Virginia
debating the merits of a colony law the crown had overturned in his speech he declared the
king a tyrant who did not deserve the obedience of the people of the colonies in 1773 Massachusetts
asked the other colonies to set up Committees of Correspondence so all of the other colonies
could easily inform each other of actions the crown took that were detrimental to the
colonies and what those colonies were doing about it Henry teamed up with other prominent Virginians
Thomas Jefferson and Richard Henry Lee to form the committee for Virginia because of his involvement
in this project Henry was elected from Virginia to the First Continental Congress in 1774 it was
during a speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1775 while serving as a representative to the
Congress that he gave his most famous speech where he said give me liberty or give me death
however his involvement in the revolution wasn't limited to mere congressional voting and oratory
he also served in the military during the war Patrick Henry was appointed as colonel of the
1st Virginia regiment in August of 1775 he led this militia against the royal governor
Lord Dunmore to defend a store of gunpowder whose ownership between the colonists and the British
was disputed this campaign became known as the gunpowder incident after the war Henry served in
the new state legislature of Virginia in its new status as a state and not a colony he was also
elected as governor of Virginia again only this time as a state governor instead of a colonial one
he was also a vocal opponent of the newly written and proposed but not yet ratified US Constitution
arguing that it gave too much power to the federal government when the Constitution came to
Virginia's state legislature for approval Patrick Henry argued passionately against it his main
reason for opposing the Constitution other than the power it gave to the federal government was
the fact that it did not include a bill of rights for citizens as he was a passionate supporter of
the right to a trial by a jury of one's peers he argued the Constitution must not be ratified until
such protection was included in it as a result of Patrick Henry's arguments James Madison wrote the
first 10 amendments to the Constitution which became known as the Bill of Rights and included
a right to a trial by jury therefore not only was Patrick Henry a passionate and effective
revolutionary is the reason our Constitution has the bill of rights as we all enjoy to this day
have you ever considered why your ancestors lived where they did people have been moving
throughout human history but there has usually been a reason join me on the
next episode of ancestral findings podcast and I'll explain that learning the reason
will reveal a lot of new and interesting genealogical information to you and may
even help you break down brick walls copyright by ancestral findings all rights reserved you
you