250th Anniversary of Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death!" Speech

Proclamation 10906 of March 20, 2025 250th Anniversary of Patrick Henry's “Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death!” Speech A Proclamation Our Nation proudly commemorates the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry's address to the Second Virginia Convention—a seminal moment in our great American story and a fateful turning point in America's epic struggle for Independence. On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry rose to the pulpit of St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, to speak those immortal words that remain etched upon every American heart: “Give me Liberty, or give me death!” In the wake of escalating tensions between the Patriots and the Redcoats, Henry delivered this stirring address before more than 100 delegates, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and many of the statesmen who would go on to sign the Declaration of Independence. Following the bloody Boston Massacre and the British Parliament's authoritarian imposition of the Intolerable Acts—which closed the Boston Harbor and stripped New England Colonists of their right to self-govern—American leaders deliberated whether to continue their pursuit of peace, or as a final recourse, to take up arms in the rebellion. With British tyranny on the rise and American confidence in retreat, the Second Virginia Convention assembled. Patrick Henry, a respected lawyer who had recently served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, arrived at the Convention with one goal in mind: to galvanize militiamen into securing “our inestimable rights and liberties, from those further violations with which they are threatened.” Some members cautioned against such decisive action, insisting that peaceful reconciliation was still possible, but as Henry listened, he grew more impatient. A Baptist minister who observed the proceedings later recalled that he had “an unearthly fire burning in his eye.” Overcome with righteous indignation, Henry rose from his seat with n…