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Patrick Henry's "Treason" speech before the House of Burgesses in an 1851 painting by Peter F. Rothermel

"Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" is a famous quotation attributed to Patrick Henry from a speech made to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

The speech was given March 23, 1775, at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, and is credited with having swung the balance in convincing the Virginia House of Burgesses to pass a resolution delivering the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War. In attendance were Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Reportedly, the crowd, upon hearing the speech, jumped up and shouted , "To Arms! To Arms!"

Problematically, the text of this speech did not appear in print until 1817, in the biography Life and Character of Patrick Henry by William Wirt. Although Wirt assembled his book from recollections by persons close to the events, some historians have since speculated that the speech, or at least that which has come down to us, was essentially written by Wirt decades after the fact.^[1] Ear-witnesses to Henry's hypnotic orations remarked that while they always seemed to be convincing in the moment, they had a difficult time remembering exactly what he had said immediately afterwards: according to Jefferson, "Although it was difficult, when [Henry] had spoken, to tell what he had said, yet, while speaking, it always seemed directly to the point. When he had spoken in opposition to my opinion, had produced a great effect, and I myself had been highly delighted and moved, I have asked myself, when he ceased, 'What the devil has he said?' and could never answer the inquiry." ^[2]

The text of the speech as presented by Wirt is larded with biblical allusions and radical pronouncements, and ends by asserting that war has already begun, the only question being whether or not to fight. In Henry's delivery of the speech, Wirt compared Henry with Cato.

Some scholars believe the source for this quotation came from, or was inspired by, Cato.^[3] In Cato, a Tragedy, Act II, Scene 4: "It is not now time to talk of aught/But chains or conquest, liberty or death.". This play was popular in the colonies and well-known by the Founding Fathers who used quotes from this play. George Washington had the play performed for the Continental Army at Valley Forge.^[4] The phrase "Liberty or Death" appears on the Culpeper Minutemen flag of 1775.

It is ironic that Patrick Henry was a slave owner, and some of his slaves fought for the British in the American War of Independence because the British promised liberty for slaves who fought with them. Simon Schama argues in Rough Crossings that the fear that the British would liberate slaves following the Somersett Judgement was a motivating force for many Patriots.

• Craig, Nelson, Thomas Paine, Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations, 2006, ISBN 0670037885
• Randall, William, George Washington: A Life, 1997, ISBN 080505992X
• Wirt, William, Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry, 1817

• Libertyonline - Full text of the speech
• Text of Patrick Henry's speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses
• Audio of the speech by Richard Schuman who interprets the character of Patrick Henry for The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
• Audio of the speech, by Mark Smith & from LibriVox via Project Gutenberg
• Cato (A Tragedy in Five Acts) (1713)

• Join, or Die

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Patrick Henry

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Give me liberty or give me death