Patrick Henry Quotes
Tarquin and Caesar each had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by their example ("Treason!" cried the Speaker of the House interrupting)—. If this be treason, make the most of it.
Patrick Henry, 1736-1799, Member, Virginia House of Burgesses, Member of the Continental Congress, Governor of Virginia, Member, Virginia Constitutional Ratification Convention, Debate, Virginia House of Burgesses, May 29, 1765
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
When Henry came to “George II” he was interrupted by the Speaker, John Robinson, who shouted “Treason!” Henry had been railing against the Stamp Act.
The first sentence of this quotation was a favorite of Paine's. He had earlier used it in Common Sense in 1776. See {635451}.
He was referring to the public unrest and dissatisfaction when an middle, poor or impoverished class is ground down by rigid interpretation and contract laws so that people in debt can rarely get out. He argues that this was a stark reality before most revolutions and a primary cause.
Many American colonists had relatives and friends in England, and Paine argued that American independence would help and not het the English people.
Patrick Henry was an American attorney, planter, politician, and orator best known for his declaration to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.
