'Give me liberty, or give me death!'.

• Position: ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES

For use with "10 Speeches That Made History" on p. 18 of the magazine

The article "10 Speeches That Made History" spotlights 10 famous speeches from U.S. history, including the one excerpted below--Patrick Henry's address to delegates at the Second Virginia Convention on the eve of the American Revolution. Read this extended excerpt from Henry's powerful speech along with the Upfront article. Then answer the questions that follow.

Excerpt from Patrick Henry's Speech, March 23, 1775

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? ...

Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? ... Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves....

There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free--if we mean to preserve...