Patrick Henry

  Patrick Henry was born in May 29 of 1736 in Virginia. He was a lawyer, politician. He was the most celebrated orator of the American Revolution. He got fame in 1763 after begging in the Parsons' Cause, a case in which he defended the right of the colony to fix the price of the tobacco. When Henry went to the House of Burgesses in 1765, he enters successfully. After the Stamp Act he introduced a set of radical resolutions saying the British Parliament's taking by force the powers of the colonial legislature, which levied the taxes. He supported the resolves with a speech. They circulated throughout the colonies and this resolves made Henry famous. For ten years Henry used his voice and wide support to lead the anti-British movement in the Virginia legislature. During the crisis caused by the Boston Tea Party Henry was at the top of his career. He traveled with George Washington and others to Philadelphia as representatives from Virginia to the First Continental Congress. Henry urged the colonists to write in firm resistance toward Britain. Henry said. "I am not a Virginian, but an American."

Elected to the first Virginia Revolutionary Convention in March 1775, Henry made one of the most famous speeches in American history. Trying to get support to arm the colony. The representatives were affected by Henry's powerful speech and Virginia rushed down the road to independence. He commanded the state's regular forces in Virginia for six months, but he decided that he was not good for a military role. At the Virginia Convention, Henry supported the call for independence that led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence by Congress. In that same year, Henry was elected as the first governor of Virginia.