Patrick HenryPatrick Henry

"Patrick Henry is remembered today for saying 'Give me liberty or give me death.' But his rich contribution to American independence consisted of far more than one line from one speech. [This book] restores this American patriot to his important place in our early history. In his time Patrick Henry was a major figure, as highly regarded as his contemporary fellow Virginians Jefferson and Madison, and admired as perhaps the finest orator in the land. An almost exact contemporary of Washington, Henry was an early advocate of independence, vigorously opposing the Stamp Act. Although historians have tended to focus on the revolutionary fervor in Boston, Jon Kukla shows how Henry and some of his fellow Virginians were indispensable to the independence movement. Henry was a delegate to the first Continental Congress and subsequently led the Virginia militia when it confronted the royal governor of Virginia. He was the first postcolonial governor of Virginia and would be reelected several times. In 1787 he declined to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, concerned that the central government would limit states' rights. For this reason, he opposed the new Constitution. His opposition helped lead to the first ten amendments to the Constitution, which we know today as the Bill of Rights. Washington regarded Henry highly and wanted him to join his administration, but Henry retired from public life and died a few months before Washington. Despite his dedication to the cause of liberty, Henry, like his fellow Virginians, owned slaves to work his plantations. His concept of liberty was never broad enough to include them. Kukla's outstanding biography restores Henry to his important place as one of our nation's most influential founding fathers."--Dust jacket flap.