In this speech delivered on March 23, 1775, during Virginia’s Second Revolutionary Convention, Patrick Henry argues for his resolution to raise a militia to defend the colony. Henry’s speech was not written down at the time, but William Wirt wrote a transcription of the speech in his 1817 biography of Henry.
Patrick Henry wrote the following five resolutions against the Stamp Act and introduced them to the House of Burgesses on May 29, 1765. The House passed them after a heated debate, but rescinded the fifth resolution the following day. This iteration of the Virginia Stamp Act resolves comes from a handwritten document that was found inside a small envelope that Henry included with his last will and testament.
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