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Saturday, March 23, 2019

Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry was:



  • the son of John Henry from Scotland. During the 1720s the father was an educated man who had attended the King's College in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was after John Henry married a wealthy widow named Sarah and together they created Patrick Henry and  took him home to the family farm in Hanover Virginia. 
  • Patrick Henry went to public school and was tutored by his father. His education did not go much farther as he married a young gal and lived on a 300 acre farm with a house and six slaves. 
  • Patrick Henry was not successful with tobacco farming. The house that the family lived in burned down in 1757. This brought on another ambitious plan for Henry as he taught himself law. In 1760 Patrick Henry would start his life of law when he took the Virginia Bar exam in Williamsburg.  In 1764 the family would sell the unsuccessful plantation. 

It would be an issue involving salaries of Anglican clergy that would bring Henry to fame. Primarily paid in tobacco the clergy men found the rise in tobacco and the Virginia Colonial legislature Two-Penny Act was not fair. The act meant that the clergy men could be paid back at the previous rate. Thus giving the decision to the king to pass

 “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”

Clergy, Rev. James Murray of Hanover sued the county for back wages. Patrick Henry would defend the county and the king would try to rule over all. Henry would win the battle and make him very popular 




  • Following the declaration of the State's independence from Great Britain in 1776 Patrick Henry was the first elected governor of the new state named Virginia. Serving previously as the Colonel of the First Virginia Regiment and Commander in Chief of the Virginia militia the time for leaving the military had come. He would serve 10 years as governor


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