..gentlemen may cry:..

[scalf]

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]....

peace, peace,

but there is no peace...

surel' the next resounding gale from the north means war;

is life so dear,
and peace so sweet;

as
to

be purchased with the chains
of

slavery???

forbid it not...

almighty god...

i know not what course others may take;

but, as for me..

give me liberty....

or give me death...

gl

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[andyfox]

Patrick Henry is most famous for his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. He was only interested in liberty for himself. He vigorously fought against the proposed United States constitution, leading the unsuccessful opposition in Virginia. His opposition to the national system was mainly based on the fact that he considered it hostile to westward expansion on the part of Virginia. Since he was deeply involved in western land speculation, it suited his interest to oppose the Constitutution. The greatest pasion in his life, over and abaove independence for Virginia, was in amassing a very large fortune. The way to do this in Henry's Virginia was to acquire great tracts of lands through political influence.

His shadiest deal was the Yazoo land speculation, the name being taken from the Yazoo Rivier, a tributary of the Mississippi in the area west of Georgia. There is proof that almost all the legislators of Georgia were bribed, either directly by money or through a speculative interest in the project. Henry and his associates, having bought the legislature, received a grant of 11,400,000 acres. (In a kind of poetic justice, the scheme fell through).

The most thorough study of western land speculation was done by Thomas Abernethy in Western Lands and the American Revolution. Said Abernethy, after studying the records: "It is of no moment just how many acres various individuals and companies acquired or tried to acquire during the era of exploitation of public land. But it does matter that usually the most sucessful speculators and traders were those who betrayed public trust and used official position to bilk the people." He described Henry not as "patriot" but as "opportunist."

There are many wonderful men to celebrate in our history, most especially in the battle for independence from England. Patrick Henry is not one of them.

[Zeno]

"The undisputed oratorical champion of Virginia of course was Patrick Henry..... Henry was the evangelical preacher, who came at an audience in waves of emotional inspiration, each separated by exaggerated pauses that seemed to most listeners like the silence preceding divine judgment."

Thomas Jefferson, in later life, called Patrick Henry "avaritious [sic] & rotten hearted". But Jefferson thought him useful in helping fermenting the initially stages of the American Revolution. When later Patrick opposed constitutional reforms in Virginia, Jefferson wrote to Madison, "What we have to do is devoutly pray for his death.” – a very interesting statement from that always seemingly contradictory revolutionary, Thomas Jefferson.

The quotes above are from American Sphinx The Character of Thomas Jefferson , by Joseph J. Ellis.

-Zeno

[scalf]

[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]..

and i thought john cole was tuff

lol

gl

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[andyfox]

Nah, just two old fogies. Zeno and I actually went to junior high school with Patrick Henry.