For Equal Rights: 'Give me liberty or give me death' turns 250

The phrase "Give me liberty or give me death!" has been expressed by protesters from the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising in China to those who opposed COVID-19 restrictions in the US in 2020.

Malcolm X referenced it in his 1964 “Ballot or the Bullet” speech, demanding equal rights for Black Americans. President Donald Trump quoted it on his Truth Social platform last year, lambasting a judge during his criminal hush money trial.

The phrase was reportedly first used 250 years ago Sunday by lawyer and legislator Patrick Henry to persuade Virginia colonists to prepare for war against an increasingly punitive Great Britain, just weeks before the American Revolution.

Tensions were coming to a boil, particularly in Massachusetts, where the British replaced elected officials, occupied Boston and shuttered the harbour.

“The entire episode was about helping our brethren in Massachusetts,” said historian John Ragosta, who wrote a book on Henry. “It's about the community. It's about the nation. It's not about, What do I get out of this personally?'”

The printed version of Henry's galvanizing speech in a crowded church was about 1,200 words. And yet those seven words have survived the centuries like a line from a Shakespeare play.

“It's a very malleable phrase,” said Patrick Henry Jolly, a fifth great-grandson of Henry. “It's something that can be applied to many different circumstances. But I think it's important that people understand the original context.”

Jolly is set to reenact Henry's speech Sunday in the same church where his ancestor delivered it. The presentation, which will be streamed online, is part of Virginia's commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the nation's birth.

According to the Library of Congress, Henry, a successful trial lawyer, once astonished a courtroom with an argument that “man is born with certain inalienable rights”, an idea echoed in the Declaration of Independence.

In 1765, Henry won a seat in Virginia's colonial legislature. He was instrumental in opposing Great Britain's Stamp Act, which levied a direct tax on the American colonies to raise money for Britain.

In his 2004 book, “Founding Myths”, historian Ray Raphael wrote “it is highly unlikely” Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death!”

Henry did not write down the speech and the version we know today was published 42 years later in an 1817 biography of him. The biographer, attorney William Wirt, pieced together Henry's words from the decades-old recollections of people who were there.

The printed version, Raphael wrote, “reflects the agendas of 19th-century nationalists who were fond of romanticising war".

But other historians said there is ample evidence Henry uttered those words. “We have multiple people, years later, saying, I remember like it was yesterday,'" Ragosta said, adding that Thomas Jefferson was one of them.

Following independence, Henry served as Virginia's governor five times. He also became known as an anti-federalist, opposing ratification of the US Constitution and a strong central government.

But Henry later spoke in support of the founding document at George Washington's urging in 1799, the year Henry died.

“He says, Look, I voted against the Constitution, but we the people voted for it. And so we have to abide by it,” Ragosta said.