HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATRICK HENRY!

Last October, I had the privilege of conducting a wedding in our little country church. The groom is a retired U.S. Army corporal. The bride is a direct descendant of Patrick Henry. Born 29 May 1736, Henry is the subject of my column for May.

Most Americans, when they think of Patrick Henry, are reminded of his timeless words, “Give me liberty or give me death!” They think of Henry as a great orator but not much else. But an orator’s power to move people wells from the depth of conviction in his own soul and his ability to instill that conviction in the hearts of his listeners. John Randolph of Roanoke, also a great orator, said of Henry, “The united powers of painting and eloquence could, alone, give a faint idea of what he was…a Shakespeare and Garrick combined…when Henry was speaking one felt like whispering to his neighbor, ‘Hush, don’t stir, don’t speak, don’t breathe!’” Judge St. George Tucker, a fellow delegate who heard Henry’s famous speech, recollected, “Imagine that you had heard a voice as from heaven uttering the words, ‘We must fight,’ as the doom of Fate, and you may have some idea of the speaker, the assembly to whom he addressed himself, and the auditory, of which I was one.”

Another listener described the speech,

“When Patrick Henry said, ‘Forbid it, Almighty God,” his arms were extended aloft, his body was thrown back, his coat flung right and left. The tendons of his neck stood out white and rigid like whipcords, his brow was knit, every feature marked with the resolute purpose of his soul. … ‘Liberty’ he spoke with an emphasis never given it before. His countenance was radiant; he stood erect and defiant; while the sound of his voice and the sublimity of his attitude made him appear a magnificent incarnation of Freedom, and expressed all that can be acquired or enjoyed by nations and individuals invincible and free.”

But Henry was more than a great orator. He was a great American statesman, respected in his time more than any other American except George Washington. As a lawyer he often defended the cause of liberty in American courts. On one occasion in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, as he waited for his case to be called, he saw two Baptist pastors being tried for preaching without a license from the Church of England. He interrupted the proceeds and demanded, “May it please your lordship, what did I hear? Did I hear an expression that these men, who your worships are about to try for misdemeanor, are charged with preaching the gospel of the Son of God?” He then joined the defense and also defended other Baptist pastors facing similar charges.

Henry served as a colonel in the Virginia militia and also served six terms as Governor of Virginia. His passion for liberty led him to oppose ratification of the U.S. Constitution, because he feared it gave the new federal government too much power. At the Virginia Ratifying Convention, he and George Mason faced off against the leading minds of the day: James Madison, Edmund Pendleton, Edmund Randolph, John Marshall, George Wythe, Henry Lee, and others. Henry declared,

“Where are your checks in this government? Your strongholds will be in the hands of your enemies. It is on a supposition that your American governors shall be honest, that all the good qualities of this government are founded; but its defective and imperfect construction puts it in their power to perpetuate the worst of mischiefs, should they be bad men. And, sir, would not all the world, from the eastern to the western hemispheres, blame our distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers being good or bad? Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty.”

At the beginning of the debate, proponents of the Constitution claimed they had a 50-vote majority. But Henry held the field against them for 23 days and swayed many delegates. Before the vote was taken, Madison and the other proponents, no longer certain of victory, promised a bill of rights if the Constitution were ratified. The Constitution then passed 87-79. Henry then told his angry Antifederalist supporters, “The Constitution has been ratified; we are all Federalists now; I suggest you all go home.” Many of Henry’s concerns about the Constitution were valid, such as his fear of unchecked judicial review, the lack of term limits for the President, his protest that the sword (the power to declare war) and the purse (the power to tax) were in the same hands, and the lack of a bill of rights. His firm stand is a primary reason we have a Bill of Rights today.

Many historians laud Henry’s achievements but ignore the motivating force behind them – his devout Christian faith. Those who applaud his oratory often ignore the Biblical reference in his speech:

“Majesty of heaven [I Chronicles 29:11] which I revere above all earthly kings.”

“Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not [Jeremiah 5:21; Ezekiel 12:2], the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?”

* ”Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss” [Matthew 26:48]

* “There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. [II Chronicles 32:8] The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone.” [Ecclesiastes 9:11]

* “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace – but there is no peace.” [Jeremiah 6:14]

* “Why stand we here idle?” [Matthew 20:6]

Raised by an Anglican father and a Presbyterian mother, Henry inherited both Anglican stability and Presbyterian fervor. On the way home from church meetings, where for eleven years he listened to the sermons of the Calvinist preacher Samuel Davies, young Henry was required to repeat the sermon text and summarize the sermon content. Henry later called Davies the greatest orator he had ever heard, so it is reasonable to conclude that Henry learned both oratory and theology from that preacher.

As an adult, Henry strongly opposed the Deism of his day and repeatedly avowed his Christian convictions. His grandson Patrick Henry Fontaine says he “lived and died an exemplary member” of the Anglican church, adding that he regularly spent “one hour every day...in private devotion. His hour of prayer was the close of the day, including sunset…and during that sacred hour, none of his family intruded upon his privacy.” He studied the Bible at length and read sermon notes “every Sunday evening to his family, after which they all joined in sacred music while he accompanied them on the violin.”

As Henry lay dying in 1799 at age 63, he prayed and witnessed to his doctor, asking him to observe what a reality and benefit the Christian religion was to a man about to die. And his final affirmation of faith is found in his last will and testament:

“This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.”

May we ever treasure this infinitely rich heritage – the religion of Christ, and the Biblical principles of government so eloquently proclaimed by this sterling Christian statesman.

Happy Birthday, Patrick Henry!

Colonel Eidsmoe serves as Professor of Constitutional Law for the Oak Brook College of Law & Government Policy (obcl.edu), as Senior Counsel for the Foundation for Moral Law (morallaw.org), and as Pastor of Woodland Presbyterian Church of Notasulga, AL (woodlandpca.org). He may be contacted for speaking engagements at eidsmoeja@juno.com.

THE VIEWS OF SUBMITTED EDITORIALS MAY NOT BE THE EXPRESS VIEWS OF THE ALABAMA GAZETTE.