Patrick Henry as a Patriot - Essay Example

Through the legislation that Henry introduced and his impassioned rhetorical style, he helped encourage Americans to rise up against the British and take their destiny into their own hands. No one can doubt that he made a major difference in America's quest for independence.

Henry was born and raised in Virginia and served in the Virginian legislature, alongside many famous men of the era (Beeman, 12). He was deeply interested in states' rights and opposed the idea of being ruled by a distant king in a foreign land. The mood in the American colonies was changing during Henry's years of service and he captured that mood powerfully in his public speeches. He often came within a whisker of making statements that were treasonous to the British king. Nevertheless, he stood by his viewpoints. In one of his first acts after being elected in Virginia he introduced a response to the Stamp Act.

His actions were widely seen as being one of the first and most radical steps against British rule in the colonies. It effectively said that Americans could not be taxed by London without representation in London. It was the speech he gave at this time which Thomas Jefferson once said that surpassed anything else he had ever heard in his life (Jewett). During this time, and in the years following it and leading up to the Revolution, Henry's rhetoric was noted as inspiring many people. He spoke powerfully about the wickedness of the tyrannical king and he told the American people to join in a war effort. His most famous speech, ending in “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!” inspired Virginia to join the Revolution (Wirt, 132). It was his radicalism and his principled positions that made him such an invaluable figure in the war effort of the time.

It should also be noted that Henry played an important role in the life of the new nation after the Revolutionary War (Beeman, 202). He served as the Governor of Virginia for many years and fought against the ratification of the new Constitution by Virginia. He felt that the position of president would be too powerful and would be closely akin to monarchy. To his dying day, he supported states' rights and fought against those who would centralize power. He loved freedom. This makes him an early hero of today's Tea Party.

Patrick Henry was a true patriot. He struggled against injustice and tyranny. It was his impassioned introduction of legislation in the Virginian legislature that helped encourage the first serious rebellions against the British. More than anything, however, it was his rhetorical power and ability to motivate men and women living at that time to go to war with the British Empire, to fight and to win.