RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – On Sunday people, including Gov. Glenn Youngkin, packed St. John Church. They were taken back in time to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775.
The day Hanover County native and future Virginia governor Patrick Henry persuaded a room of Virginia legislators to support Massachusetts, as war with Great Britain was looming.
Delivering these monumental words: “Give me liberty, or give me death.”
“Patrick Henry was saying, ‘We Virginians are going to join our brethren in Massachusetts, because this is not a Massachusetts fight, it’s not a Virginia fight, it’s an American fight,” said Dr. John Ragosta, a historian.
27 days later, the first shots of the American Revolution rang out in Lexington and Concord.
Historian Dr. John Ragosta said Henry’s famous line is still one of the most well-known phrases in history.
“Well-known, that’s exactly the opposite of what Henry was talking about,” Ragosta said.
Outside of the church, hundreds of protestors spoke out against the Trump Administration. Cheryl Loge believes if Henry were alive today, he’d be protesting too.
“We need to have liberty back in this country. We have a three part form of government with legislative, executive and judicial and right now executive is stomping all over everything just like a king or dictator would and that’s exactly what Patrick Henry was speaking against,” he said.
However, Dr. Ragosta said it’s important to remember the context of when that speech was given.
“That’s really not what the speech is about, it would have not been remembered if it was an anti-government speech. We’re about to have the revolution, we’re about to have the Declaration of Independence, we’re about to have the U.S. Constitution. That’s all about us joining together to have the government,” he said.
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