Quotes About Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry) He understood that the home was the foundation of a stable society and that the authority a man "exercised within the larger society was rooted in the authority exercised at home." Thus ... the training ground for all sound leadership is the family.

Early American speeches, from Washington's to Patrick Henry's, have been detheologized in history textbooks. No one has called it censorship.

The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.

Patrick Henry aligned himself against ratification. So did Richard Henry Lee.

Patrick Henry retorted in a single argument asserting both the individual right to have arms and the state power to encourage a militia consisting of the armed populace: May we not discipline and arm them, as well as Congress, if the power be concurrent? So that our militia shall have two sets of arms, double sets of regimentals, & c.; and thus, at a very great cost, we shall be doubly armed. The great object is, that every man be armed.

As fine a document as the Constitution is, the Antifederalists, who were not frivolous men, raised some prescient criticisms. Patrick Henry was concerned that the "general welfare" clause would someday be interpreted to authorize practically any federal power that might be imagined.

Men of Virginia, countrymen of Washington, of Patrick Henry, of Jefferson, and of Madison, will ye be true to your constitutional faith?

My great objection to this government is, that it does not leave us the means of defending our rights, or of waging war against tyrants.

Patrick Henry argued that according to British law, no British citizen could be forced to pay a tax unless his representative... in Parliament agreed. But since there were no Americans in Parliament, the colonies didn't have representation. Any tax passed by Parliament was illegal...

There will never be rebellion here. In Richmond and Williamsburg there has been talk. Jefferson isn't reliable and Patrick Henry is a born troublemaker of no substance whatever. No, sir, Virginia stands fast with the king.

Men of Virginia, countrymen of Washington, of Patrick Henry, of Jefferson, and of Madison, will ye be true to your constitutional faith?

The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery

The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.

Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery

Patrick Henry] wanted the Constitution to have a Bill of Rights attached to it -- a list of powers that the government could never use against the people of the United States.