Patrick Henry

Early life (1736–1759)

Henry was born on the family farm, Studley, in Hanover County in the Colony of Virginia, on May 29, 1736. His father was John Henry, an immigrant from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, who had attended King's College, University of Aberdeen, before emigrating to Virginia in the 1720s. Settling in Hanover County in about 1732, John Henry married Sarah Winston Syme, a wealthy widow from a prominent local family of English ancestry.

Patrick Henry shared his name with his uncle, an Anglican minister, and until the elder Patrick's death in 1777 often went as Patrick Henry Jr. Henry attended a local school until about the age of 10. There was no academy in Hanover County, and he was tutored at home by his father. The young Henry engaged in the typical recreations of the times, such as music and dancing, and was particularly fond of hunting. Since the family's stock, considerable lands, and slaves would pass to his older half-brother John Syme Jr., due to the custom of primogeniture, Henry needed to make his own way in the world. At age 15, he became a clerk for a local merchant and a year later opened a store with his older brother William. The store was not successful. His sisters were pioneer and writer Annie Henry Christian and Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell, a Methodist lay leader.

The religious revival known as the First Great Awakening reached Virginia when Henry was a child. His father was staunchly Anglican, but his mother often took him to hear Presbyterian preachers. Although Henry remained a lifelong Anglican communicant, ministers such as Samuel Davies taught him that it is not enough to save one's own soul, but one should help to save society. He also learned that oratory should reach the heart, not just persuade based on reason. His oratorical technique would follow that of these preachers, seeking to reach the people by speaking to them in their own language.

Religion played a key role in Henry's life; his father and namesake uncle were both devout and were both major influences in his life. Nevertheless, he was uncomfortable with the role of the Anglican Church as the established religion in Virginia, and he fought for religious liberty throughout his career. Henry wrote to a group of Baptists who had sent a letter of congratulations following Henry's 1776 election as governor, "My earnest wish is, that Christian charity, forbearance and love may unite all different persuasions as brethren." He criticized his state of Virginia, feeling that slavery and lack of religious toleration had retarded its development. He told the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788, "That religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, and therefore all men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others."

Revolutionary lawyer and politician (1760–1775)

Parson's Cause (1760–1763)

While at Hanover Tavern, Henry found time to study the law. How long he did so is unclear; he later said it was as little as a month. On the advice of a local lawyer, Henry in 1760 applied for a lawyer's license, appearing before the examiners—prominent attorneys in the colonial capital of Williamsburg. The examiners were impressed by Henry's mind even though his knowledge of legal procedures was scant. He passed in April 1760, and he thereafter opened a practice, appearing in the courts of Hanover and nearby counties. Henry became a skilled lawyer because in court "he displayed quick wit, knowledge of human nature, and forensic gifts."

The droughts of the 1750s had led to a rise in the price of tobacco. Hard currency was scarce in Virginia, and salaries in the colony were often expressed in terms of pounds of tobacco. Prior to the drought, the price of tobacco had long been twopence per pound (0.45 kilograms) and in 1755 and 1758, the Virginia House of Burgesses, the elected lower house of the colonial legislature, passed the Two Penny Act, allowing debts expressed in tobacco to be paid at the rate of twopence per pound for a limited period. These payees included public officials, including Anglican clergy—Anglicanism was Virginia's established church—and several ministers petitioned the Board of Trade in London to overrule the Burgesses, which it did. Five clergymen then brought suit for back pay, cases known as the Parson's Cause; of them, only the Reverend James Maury was successful, and a jury was to be empaneled in Hanover County on December 1, 1763, to fix damages. Henry was engaged as counsel by Maury's parish vestry for this hearing. Patrick Henry's father, Colonel John Henry, was the presiding judge.

After the evidence was presented proving the facts at issue, Maury's counsel gave a speech in praise of the clergy, many of whom were in attendance. Henry responded with a one-hour speech, ignoring the question of damages, but which focused on the unconstitutionality of the veto of the Two Penny Act by the king's government. Henry deemed any king who annulled good laws, such as the Two Penny Act, as a "tyrant" who "forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience", and the clergy, by challenging an impartial law designed to bring economic relief, had shown themselves to be "enemies of the community". The opposing counsel accused Henry of treason, and some took up that cry, but Henry continued, and the judge did nothing to stop him. Henry urged the jury to make an example of Maury, for the benefit of any who might seek to imitate him and suggested the jury return damages of one farthing. The jury was out for only moments and fixed damages at one penny. Henry was hailed as a hero. According to biographer Henry Mayer, Henry had "defined the prerogatives of the local elite by the unorthodox means of mobilizing the emotions of the lower ranks of religious and political outsiders." Henry's popularity greatly increased, and he added 164 new clients in the year after the Parson's Cause.

Stamp Act (1764–1765)

In the wake of the Parson's Cause, Henry began to gain a following in backwoods Virginia because of his oratory defending the liberties of the common people and thanks to his friendly manner. He boosted his standing further in 1764 by representing Nathaniel West Dandridge, elected for Hanover County, in an election contest before the Burgesses. Dandridge was alleged to have bribed voters with drink, a practice common but illegal. Henry is said to have made a brilliant speech in defense of the rights of voters, but the text does not survive. Henry lost the case but met influential members on the Committee of Privileges and Elections, such as Richard Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph and George Wythe. In 1765, William Johnson, the brother of Thomas Johnson (who had been one of Henry's clients in the Parson's Cause), resigned as burgess for Louisa County. As Henry owned land in the county (acquired from his father to settle a loan), he was eligible to be a candidate, and he won the seat in May 1765. He left immediately for Williamsburg as the session had already begun.

The expense of the Seven Years' War (called the French and Indian War in North America) (1756–1763) had nearly doubled Britain's national debt, and as much of the war had taken place in and around North America, the British government looked for ways of directly taxing the American colonies. The 1765 Stamp Act was both a means of raising revenue and one of asserting authority over the colonies. The Burgesses instructed their agent in London, Edward Montague, to oppose the measure, and other colonial legislatures similarly instructed their representatives. Considerable debate began over the proposed measure, and in Virginia pamphleteers developed arguments Henry had made in the Parson's Cause.

Patrick Henry was sworn into a sleepy session of the legislature on May 20; many of the members had left town. On about May 28, a ship arrived with an urgent letter from Montague: the Stamp Act had passed. On May 29, Henry introduced the Virginia Stamp Act Resolves. The first two resolutions affirmed that the colonists had the same rights and privileges as Britons; the next two stated that taxation should be exacted only by one's representatives. The fifth was the most provocative, as it named the Virginia legislature, the General Assembly, as the representatives of Virginia empowered to tax. Two other resolutions were offered, though their authorship is uncertain. Edmund and Helen Morgan, in their account of the Stamp Act crisis, suggest that Henry saw the Stamp Act as both a threat to Virginians' rights and an opportunity to advance himself politically.

Lawyer and landowner (1766–1773)

Fauquier dissolved the Burgesses on June 1, 1765, hoping new elections would purge the radicals, but this proved not to be the case as conservative leaders were instead voted out. The governor did not call the Burgesses into session until November 1766, by which time the Stamp Act had been repealed by Parliament, preventing Virginia from sending delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York. Henry's role in the active resistance that took place in Virginia against the Stamp Act is uncertain. Although the lack of a legislative session sidelined Henry during the crisis, it also undermined the established leaders of the chamber, who remained scattered through the colony with little opportunity to confer as the public rage for change grew hotter.

When the Burgesses eventually convened, Henry sometimes opposed the colonial leaders but united with them against British policies. In the late 1760s and early 1770s, Henry spent more time concentrating on his personal affairs, though he advanced in standing within the Burgesses serving on powerful committees. The Henry family moved to a new house on his Louisa County property, probably in late 1765, and lived there until 1769 when he returned to Hanover County. His law practice remained strong until the courts under royal authority closed in 1774. Jefferson later complained that Henry was lazy and ignorant in the practice of the law, his sole talent trying cases before juries, and accused Henry of charging criminal defendants high fees to get them acquitted. Norine Dickson Campbell, in her biography of Henry, found Jefferson's comments unfounded, noting that Henry's rates were moderate for the time and citing earlier historians as to Henry's competence. Jefferson's comments came years after the two, once friends, quarreled. In 1769, Henry was admitted to practice before the General Court of Virginia in Williamsburg, a venue more prestigious than the county courts.

Henry invested some of his earnings in frontier lands, in what is now the western part of Virginia, as well as in what became present-day West Virginia and Kentucky. He claimed ownership though many of them were controlled by the Native Americans, and he sought to get the colonial (and, later, state) government to recognize his claims. This was common among Virginia's leading citizens, such as George Washington. Henry foresaw the potential of the Ohio Valley and was involved in schemes to found settlements. Income from land deals in 1771 enabled him to buy Scotchtown, a large plantation in Hanover County, which he purchased from John Payne, the father of Dolley Madison—she lived there for a brief time as a child. Scotchtown, with 16 rooms, was one of the largest mansions in Virginia.

Renewed involvement and First Continental Congress (1773–1775)

In 1773, Henry came into conflict with the royal governor, John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore. The governor, appointed in 1771, had sent British soldiers to Pittsylvania County to aid in apprehending a gang of counterfeiters. Once captured, they were immediately taken to Williamsburg for trial before the General Court, ignoring precedent that judicial proceedings should begin in the county where the offense took place or where the suspect had been captured. This was a sensitive matter especially because of the recent Gaspee Affair in Rhode Island, in which the British sought to capture and transport overseas for trial those who had burned a British ship. The Burgesses wanted to rebuke Dunmore for his actions, and Henry was part of a committee of eight that drafted a resolution thanking the governor for the capture of the gang but affirming that using the "usual mode" of criminal procedure protected both the guilty and the innocent. They also penned a plan, adopted by the Burgesses, for a committee of correspondence to communicate with leaders in other colonies to inform and coordinate with each other. The members included Henry.

Although Henry had by this time come to believe that conflict with Great Britain, and independence, were inevitable, he had no strategy for this. The Burgesses were sitting when in 1774, word came that Parliament had voted to close the port of Boston in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, and several burgesses, including Henry, convened at the Raleigh Tavern to formulate a response. According to George Mason, a former burgess from Fairfax County who joined the committee in the work, Henry took the lead. Mason and Henry formed a close political relationship that lasted until Mason's death in 1792. The resolution that Henry's committee produced set June 1, 1774, the date upon which the Port of Boston was to be closed, as a day of fasting and prayer. It passed the Burgesses, but Dunmore dissolved the body. Undeterred, the former legislators met at the Raleigh Tavern and reconstituted themselves as a convention to meet again in August, after there was time for county meetings to show local sentiment. They also called for a boycott of tea and other products.

The five Virginia Conventions (1774–1776) would guide the Colony of Virginia to independence as royal authority came to an end. Their work was advanced by many resolutions of county meetings, denying the authority of Parliament over the colonies and calling for a boycott of imports. The first convention met in Williamsburg in the chamber of the Burgesses beginning on August 1; Dunmore was absent from the capital fighting the Native Americans and could not interfere. Divided between those who wanted separation from Britain and those who still hoped for some accommodation, it met for a week; one major decision was the election of delegates to a Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Henry was chosen as one of seven delegates, tying for second place with Washington, burgess for Fairfax County, both receiving three votes less than Randolph.

"Liberty or Death" (1775)

Hanover County elected Henry as a delegate to the Second Virginia Convention, which convened at St. John's Episcopal Church in the town of Richmond on March 20, 1775. Richmond was selected as better protected from royal authority. The convention debated whether Virginia should adopt language from a petition by the planters of the Colony of Jamaica. This document contained complaints about British actions but admitted the king could veto colonial legislation, and it urged reconciliation. Henry offered amendments to raise a militia independent of royal authority in terms that recognized that conflict with Britain was inevitable, sparking the opposition of moderates. On March 23, he defended his amendments, concluding with the statement for which he is well known:

If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? 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!

As he concluded, Henry plunged an ivory paper cutter towards his chest in imitation of the Roman patriot Cato the Younger. Henry's speech carried the day, and the convention adopted his amendments. Still, they passed only narrowly, as many delegates were uncertain where the resistance urged by Henry and other radicals would lead, and few counties formed independent militia companies at the urging of the convention.

The text of Henry's speech first appeared in print in Wirt's 1817 biography, published 18 years after Patrick Henry's death. Wirt corresponded with men who had heard the speech and others who were acquainted with people who were there at the time. All agreed that the speech had produced a profound effect, but it seems that only one person attempted to render an actual text. Judge St. George Tucker, who had been present for the speech, gave Wirt his recollections and Wirt wrote back stating that "I have taken almost entirely Mr. Henry's speech in the Convention of '75 from you, as well as your description of its effect on your verbatim." The original letter with Tucker's remembrances has been lost.

Gunpowder incident (1775)

On April 21, 1775, Dunmore had British marines under his command seize gunpowder from the magazine in Williamsburg and take it to a naval ship. The gunpowder belonged to the government, to be issued in case of need, such as a slave uprising. Dunmore's actions outraged many Virginians. Henry had departed for Philadelphia, having been elected a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, but a messenger caught up with him before he left Hanover County, and he returned to take command of the local militia. Seeking the restoration of the powder, or that the colonists be compensated for it, on May 2, Henry led his troops towards Williamsburg with, as Dunmore wrote, "all the Appearances of actual War". By this time, word of the Battles of Lexington and Concord had arrived, and many Virginians believed that war with Britain had begun. With his troops reinforced by eager volunteers from nearby counties, Henry likely had force enough to take Williamsburg and deal Dunmore a humiliating defeat, but increasingly prominent messengers urging caution slowed his advance, and in New Kent County, still some 16 miles (26 km) from Williamsburg, three of Henry's fellow delegates to Congress helped persuade him to leave off his march. As Henry insisted the colonists be compensated, a member of the Governor's Council agreed to pay the value of the powder by bill of exchange.

Although Dunmore issued a proclamation against "a certain Patrick Henry, of the County of Hanover, and a Number of his deluded Followers", 15 county committees quickly approved Henry's action, and when he finally departed for Philadelphia, he was escorted to the Potomac by militia who lined the shore, cheering as his ferry pulled away. Not all approved; Henry's march appalled some moderates who feared he might provoke a conflict in which Virginia stood alone against Britain's might. They also saw him as a threat to the sanctity of property, for anyone's might be taken by Henry and his troops. As popular support for independence grew, opponents either joined in the movement or decided it was wiser to remain silent.

Henry belatedly arrived at the Congress on May 18, 1775. Jefferson later stated that Henry played only a supporting role, and though there is not a complete record, the fact that he was not written of as having an impact appears to confirm that. The Congress appointed Washington as head of American forces, an appointment that Henry supported. At the end of the session, in August, Henry left Philadelphia for Virginia and would never again hold office outside its borders.

Independence and first time as governor (1776–1779)

Henry did not sit in the Fourth Virginia Convention which met in December 1775, as he was ineligible because of his military commission. Once he was again a civilian, the freeholders of Hanover County in April 1776 elected him to the fifth convention, to meet the following month. Most delegates were for independence but were divided on how and when to declare it. Henry introduced a resolution declaring Virginia independent and urging the Congress to declare all the colonies free. When he at last spoke, according to clergyman Edmund Randolph, Henry "appeared in an element for which he was born. To cut the knot, which calm prudence was puzzled to untie, was worthy of the magnificence of his genius. He entered into no subtlety of reasoning but was roused by the now apparent spirit of the people as a pillar of fire, which notwithstanding the darkness of the prospect would conduct to the promised land." The eventual resolution was based in large part on Henry's and passed unanimously on May 15, 1776. As well as declaring Virginia independent, the resolution instructed the state's delegates in Congress to press for American independence, which they would, with Lee introducing the motion and Jefferson penning the Declaration.

The convention then proceeded to consider a constitution for Virginia's government. Henry was appointed to a committee under the leadership of Archibald Cary. Much of the work fell to the final appointee to the committee, George Mason of Fairfax County, who did not arrive in Williamsburg until May 18, delayed by illness. Mason first drafted a Declaration of Rights; it was discussed in the Cary Committee on May 25. Mason's draft, more than the final declaration, would be highly influential, used by Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence and by writers of many 18th- and 19th-century state constitutions. When the draft was debated, Henry, at the request of a young delegate from Orange County, James Madison, produced an amendment changing Mason's call for religious tolerance to one requiring full freedom of religion. This was seen as a threat to Virginia's established religion, Anglicanism, and did not pass. Madison reworked it and had another delegate introduce it, likely Randolph, and it passed. Mason's draft called for a ban on bills of attainder. Henry got it removed by telling the delegates that some high offender might be reached by no other means. The convention approved the Declaration of Rights on June 12.

Virginia's form of government, to be placed in its constitution, became a national concern; Jefferson, in Philadelphia though he would have preferred to be in Williamsburg, sent a plan, and John Adams sent Henry a pamphlet containing his own views, to which Henry replied, "your sentiments are precisely the same I have long since taken up, and they come recommended by you". But it was Mason's plan for the government of Virginia which dominated, with much power given to the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower house of the legislature. The House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia together formed the General Assembly, as the Virginia legislature is known. Under the 1776 constitution, the governor, elected by the two houses of the legislature, was not even given the power to veto legislation and was required to act with the approval of the Governor's Council on important matters. Henry opposed the weakness of the governor, feeling it was risky at a time of war to have the executive so weak, but his views did not prevail. He had reason to rue the office's lack of power, as on June 29, 1776, the convention elected him as Virginia's first post-independence governor, by 60 votes to 45 for Thomas Nelson Jr. The election of Henry, at that time Virginia's most popular politician, helped assure acceptance of the new authorities but also placed him in a figurehead position, removed from the true power in the new government, the House of Delegates.

Leatherwood and the House of Delegates (1779–1784)

At Leatherwood, Henry devoted himself to local affairs in the thinly-populated county and was given seats on the county court (the local governing body), as prominent landowners were, and on the parish vestry. He refused to be elected a delegate to Congress, stating that his personal business and past illness made that impossible. When Governor Jefferson sent a note to him in early 1780, Henry replied with gratitude, complaining of his isolation, and wrote of his many concerns about the state of affairs as the war continued. The freeholders of Henry County soon thereafter sent its eponym to the House of Delegates. But within weeks, health problems recurred, causing his return to Leatherwood. While in Richmond (where the capital had been moved) Henry opposed a congressional plan to revalue Continental currency and impose certain taxes, feeling it would mostly benefit the North. He was successful in defeating it, but after he left Richmond, supporters persuaded the legislature to pass it. Once he returned home, he was heavily involved in efforts to recruit local volunteers to suppress bands of Loyalists who were conducting raids in the frontier area. Henry rode with the troops, though he did not lead them, and they were generally successful in suppressing the resistance. The volunteers were disbanded in September 1780.

In January 1781, British forces under the renegade former American general Benedict Arnold sailed up the James River and captured Richmond with little opposition as Henry joined the other legislators and Governor Jefferson in fleeing to Charlottesville. Although Arnold soon withdrew to Portsmouth, in February, troops under Lord Cornwallis entered the state from North Carolina; the war, which had for the most part been fought out of state, would have many of its final moves played in Virginia. With Washington's army near New York, Henry sought to recruit soldiers to defend the state and in March helped draft an angry remonstrance from the House of Delegates to Congress, demanding help. Nevertheless, in May, British forces under Colonel Banastre Tarleton raided Charlottesville, nearly capturing the Virginia government, which fled to Staunton. There is a story that Henry fled with other prominent leaders and sought refuge at the home of a woman who initially spurned them as cowards for fleeing Charlottesville. But on learning Henry was with the group, she decided it must be all right, and offered them the best she had.

Jefferson did not go to Staunton: his term as governor had just expired, but the legislature had not met to hold an election. After the raid, he took refuge at his farm in Bedford County, and Virginia had no governor for ten days. Several legislators complained of Jefferson's actions and called for an inquiry into the conduct of the executive (Jefferson and his council), and Henry was among those who took the lead. The resolution passed, but the inquiry was set for the next session, and the legislature thought better of it. Jefferson was angered at Henry's actions and held a grudge that did not abate until well after Henry's death in 1799.

Second period as governor (1784–1786)

Henry's second time as governor was for two years, as the legislature re-elected him in 1785. It was, generally, more placid than his first. During this time, Henry and his family lived at "Salisbury", in Chesterfield County, about 13 miles (21 km) from Richmond in open country that he rented, though he had an official residence close to the Virginia Capitol, which was then under construction. The General Assembly had passed legislation for new arms for the militia, and Henry worked with Lafayette to have them sent from France.

Each county's militia was under firm local control, a state of affairs that had resulted in problems during the war as local militia refused orders from Henry and other governors when asked to serve out of state or conscript recruits into the Continental Army. In 1784, seeking to bring the militias under central control, the General Assembly passed an act terminating all militia officer commissions and allowing Henry, with the consent of the Governor's Council, to appoint replacements. The Virginia Constitution required that there be a recommendation from the county court. Instead of asking the county court, Henry solicited recommendations from prominent citizens in each county whom he or his council members knew. The result was near revolt in the counties, as citizens protested the act as unconstitutional, and counties refused to obey. The law went widely unenforced, and in October 1785, Henry requested the legislators to repeal it; they complied the following year.

Residents of western North Carolina, what is today the state of Tennessee, sought to separate and become the State of Franklin. A former delegate, Arthur Campbell, wanted to join Virginia's adjacent Washington County as part of the scheme in 1785. Henry had Campbell removed as a militia officer and from his other county offices, as well as ousting Campbell's supporters, replacing them with residents of known loyalty. Although Henry urged leniency in his report to the General Assembly that October, stating that the Washington County separatists had been led astray by anxiety because of the poor economy, he had the legislature pass a Treason Act forbidding the setting-up of a rival government within Virginia territory.

Henry also sought to advance Virginia's development, both as governor and through his personal investments. He backed schemes to open navigation on the upper Potomac and James rivers, envisioning canals to connect them to the Ohio River Valley. He also supported a scheme to develop a canal across the Great Dismal Swamp, believing that with it, the trade of eastern North Carolina would flow through Norfolk. He owned land along the proposed route and sought to interest General Washington in the scheme but was not successful. Despite Henry's support for internal improvements, he failed to notify Virginia's representatives of their appointment to meet with Maryland over navigation on the Potomac, and only two, including George Mason, attended what became known as the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785. Randolph, unable to attend because of lack of timely notification, hinted that the reason for Henry's neglect was not forgetfulness but a growing hostility towards things federal. In 1786, Henry was more assiduous in notifying delegates to the Annapolis Conference called with the support of Madison, who was appointed a delegate. Henry stepped down at the end of his fifth term, stating he needed to devote time to his family and earn money to support it. Randolph succeeded him as governor.

Opponent of the Constitution (1787–1790)

Disinclined to return to distant Leatherwood after his time as governor ended in November 1786, Henry hoped to purchase land in Hanover County but bought property in Prince Edward County instead. Hampden-Sydney College, which he had helped found in 1775, is located in that county, and Henry enrolled his sons there. The local freeholders elected Henry to the House of Delegates in early 1787, and he served there until the end of 1790. Governor Randolph offered to make Henry a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, scheduled to meet in Philadelphia later that year to consider changes to the Articles of Confederation, the document that had governed the loose union among the states since 1777. Henry refused the appointment, alleging it would be difficult financially. One legend is that when Henry was asked why he had not gone, he replied, "I smelt a rat."

Henry's record of urging unity made him a potential supporter of a closer bond between the states, and as late as the end of 1786, Madison hoped for Henry as an ally in the fight. Several factors had eroded Henry's trust in the Northern states, including what he deemed Congress's failure to send adequate troops to protect Virginia settlers in the Ohio River Valley. Henry was outraged by the Jay–Gardoqui Treaty, which would have ceded exclusive navigation on the Mississippi River to Spain for 25 years. This was in exchange for commercial concessions that would benefit New England, where there was a growing separatist movement. Northern votes were sufficient to relax John Jay's negotiating instructions, which had originally forbidden restricting American navigation on the Mississippi, to allow him to reach a deal; Southern votes were sufficient to block the treaty's ratification. These events caused Henry and some other Virginia leaders to feel betrayed and to have little trust in the good faith of the North.

When the Philadelphia convention adjourned in September 1787, its president, Washington, returned home and immediately sent a copy of the new Constitution to Henry, recommending he support it. Henry was in Richmond for the autumn legislative session as delegate for Prince Edward County. While thanking Washington for presiding in Philadelphia and for sending the document, he said of it, "I have to lament that I cannot bring my Mind to accord with the proposed Constitution. The Concern I feel on this account is really greater than I am able to express." He hinted, though, that he was still open to changing his mind. This allowed Henry to remain noncommittal as opponents of the Constitution, such as Mason and Edmund Randolph (both delegates at Philadelphia) published their opinions, and to refine his views. In the initial Virginia battle over the Constitution, the call for a convention to decide whether the state should ratify it, Henry and Mason were among those who supported allowing the convention to ratify it, conditional on amendments being made. The matter was compromised with language allowing the convention's members full rein in deciding what to do, and it was set for June 1788, with elections in March; both those who supported it and those who did not felt time would be to their advantage.

Later years

Leaving the House of Delegates after 1790, Henry found himself in debt, owing in part to expenses while governor, and sought to secure his family's fortune through land speculation and a return to the practice of law. Not fully reconciled to the federal government, Henry contemplated a new republic in the sparsely settled frontier lands, but his plans came to nothing. He did not travel as widely for cases as he had in the 1760s, confining his practice mostly to Prince Edward and Bedford counties, though in a compelling case, or for a large enough fee, he would travel to Richmond or over the mountains to Greenbrier County (today in West Virginia).

When the new federal court opened in Virginia in 1790, British creditors promptly filed over a hundred cases seeking to enforce claims from the Revolutionary War. Henry was part of the defense team in Jones v. Walker before the federal court in 1791; his co-counsel included John Marshall, who prepared the written pleadings while Henry did much of the courtroom advocacy. Henry argued the case for three days; Marshall, looking back, called him "a great orator ... and much more, a learned lawyer, a most accurate thinker, and a profound reasoner". The case ended inconclusively after one of the judges died, but the legal teams reassembled for the case of Ware v. Hylton. Argued before another three-judge panel that included Chief Justice of the United States John Jay and Associate Justice James Iredell, Henry's argument provoked Justice Iredell to exclaim, "Gracious God! He is an orator indeed." Henry and Marshall were initially successful, but the plaintiffs appealed, and after Marshall argued his only case before the Supreme Court, that court in 1796 ruled for the British creditors.

Henry's friendship with Washington had cooled somewhat amid the ratification debates, but by 1794, both men were looking to reconcile. Henry found himself more aligned with Washington than with Jefferson and Madison, and Washington still considered himself indebted to Henry for notifying him about the Conway Cabal. Washington offered Henry a seat on the Supreme Court in 1794, but he refused, feeling his family needed him. Washington also tried to get Henry to accept positions as Secretary of State and as minister to Spain, and Virginia Governor "Light-Horse" Harry Lee wanted to appoint him to the Senate. Henry refused each time. Henry's continuing popularity in Virginia made him an attractive ally, and even Jefferson tried to recruit him, sending word though a mutual friend that he bore no grudge. After Washington made it clear he would not seek a third term in 1796, Marshall and Lee discussed a possible Henry run for president with him, but Henry was unwilling. The General Assembly elected him as governor again that year, but he declined, citing age and health. Henry's refusal to accept these offices increased his popularity as he was, like Washington, seen as a Cincinnatus, giving up power to return to his farm and his plow.

Monuments and memorials

Several of Henry's homes are recognized for their association with him. Scotchtown Plantation is a National Historic Landmark. The Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial preserves Henry's final home, gravesite, and law office. The site of his birthplace, which burned in 1807 and is now reduced to archaeological remains, is also preserved; it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A plaque placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution marks the site of Leatherwood in Henry County.

Henry helped found Hampden-Sydney College, believing that "every free state" should promote "useful knowledge amongst its citizens". He was an original trustee and sent seven of his sons there. Henry was instrumental in getting its charter passed by the General Assembly in 1783. Emory and Henry University in Emory, Virginia was named for him and John Emory, an early bishop in Virginia. According to the college, "Bishop Emory symbolizes belief in the union of faith and learning, while Governor Henry represents the commitment to the ideals of freedom and civic virtue."

Fort Henry stood in what is now Wheeling, West Virginia, but was at the time part of Virginia. It was built in 1774 and named Fort Fincastle after one of Lord Dunmore's titles but was renamed for Henry, then governor, after independence. Fort Patrick Henry was built during the American Revolutionary War along the South Fork Holston River at the present-day site of Kingsport, Tennessee. This fort serves as the namesake of Fort Patrick Henry Dam and its reservoir on the river. At least four ships have been named in Henry's honor: the passenger and freight packet ship Patrick Henry, the Civil War Confederate Navy steamboat CSS Patrick Henry, the World War II Liberty ship SS Patrick Henry and the ballistic missile submarine USS Patrick Henry (SSBN-599).

Camp Patrick Henry was a World War II-era military camp near Newport News, Virginia. Decommissioned in 1946, it became the site of the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport on 925 acres (3.74 km2). When opened in 1949, the airport was called Patrick Henry Field and was later renamed Patrick Henry International Airport, a name it retained until 1990. The airport code is still PHF.

Patrick Henry has been honored twice on U.S. postage stamps. On October 7, 1955, the United States Post Office Department issued a $1 definitive stamp honoring Henry, one of the high values in the Liberty issue. A painting of Henry by American artist Alonzo Chappel was used as the inspiration and as the model by the engraver for this issue. In 1960–1961, the U.S. Post Office issued the American Credo series, six stamps with well-known patriotic quotations. Patrick Henry's most famous words are inscribed on the final issue in the series, a 4-cent stamp first released in Richmond on January 11, 1961.

Legacy and historical view

As historian Richard Beeman put it, Henry was a man who "did not bother to write much of anything down", a handicap when being evaluated by history. The lack of primary source materials regarding Henry—only a handful of papers and a few of his speeches survive—has frustrated Henry's biographers from Wirt (1817) to Beeman (1974). Two years before publishing his book, Wirt commented: "It is all speaking, speaking, speaking. 'Tis true he could talk—Gods! how he could talk! but ... to make the matter worse, from 1763 to 1789 ... not one of his speeches lives in print, writing or memory". Beeman, for his part, concludes, "the Revolutionary firebrand, whatever his achievements, possessed a miserable sense of history". This was a deficiency not possessed by Jefferson, who not only survived Henry by a quarter century, but who got to fill the vacuum of information about Henry with his own recollections and opinions. Wirt did not print many of Jefferson's criticisms of Henry, who had irritated Jefferson to such an extent he was still criticizing Henry to guests at Monticello in 1824. Jefferson's negative assessments of Henry, whether justified or not, have adversely affected Henry's historical reputation.

Henry has always been acclaimed by Americans for the brilliance of his political oratory. Kukla writes, "Henry explained the Revolution to ordinary men and women through America in words they understood—and inspired them to fight for liberty." Mayer argues, "Henry had forged a popular and partisan political style whose democratic implications took another generation to realize fully and accept. His career pointed the transition from the political squirearchy of the eighteenth century to the mass politics of Andrew Jackson's day". In his study of Henry's oratory, David A. McCants suggests that Henry's position as great American orator of his day was not so much because of his "heroism and eloquence" but for adapting the clashing philosophies, religious and political, that met in Henry's Virginia, to create a new style of oratory that appealed to the masses. According to Tate, "by his unmatched oratorical powers, by employing a certain common touch to win the unwavering loyalty of his constituents, and by closely identifying with their interests, he almost certainly contributed to making the Revolution a more widely popular movement than it might otherwise have become". Kidd argues that the historical focus on the quality of Henry's oratory may result from a discomfort with the content of his speeches, especially his opposition to the Constitution.

During the Civil War era, both sides claimed Henry as a partisan, abolitionists citing his writings against slavery, and those sympathetic to the Southern cause pointing to his hostility to the Constitution. That opposition by Henry came to be seen by many writers, even those friendly to Henry, as a blot on an otherwise admirable career. Beeman, writing in 1986, just before the Constitution's bicentennial, predicted that during that anniversary, "it will be hard to avoid depicting Henry as one of history's losers, as one too short-sighted to see beyond the bounds of his own native state to glimpse the promise of national greatness embodied in the federal Constitution."