‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!’ Patrick Henry’s Rallying Cry for Freedom Turns 250

The phrase “Give me liberty or give me death!” first rang out through the corridors of history in a famous speech by Patrick Henry delivered 250 years ago this week.

In honor of the milestone, Patrick Henry Jolly, a fifth great-grandson of the Founding Father, reenacted his ancestor’s 1,200-word speech on Sunday in the same church where it was first delivered. It’s just one part of the build-up to the big national celebration coming in 2026.

In preparation for the 250th anniversary of America’s freedom, President Trump signed an executive order in January to establish a White House task force to plan a “grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of American Independence.” That moment will be celebrated throughout the U.S. on July 4, next year.

Trump’s order also called for a new national sculpture garden. The new “National Garden of American Heroes” would include statues memorializing 250 historical figures including names such as Davy Crockett, Billy Graham, Whitney Houston, Harriet Tubman and Antonin Scalia.

Patrick Henry & the Fight for Liberty

When it comes to America’s fight for independence, there are few phrases as iconic as Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death,” delivered shortly before the American Revolution began.

Tensions had been rising across the American colonies in 1775 when many Americans felt like second-class citizens with no real representation in the British Parliament. And hostility was already reaching a fever pitch in New England, especially in Massachusetts, where the British regime had replaced elected officials, occupied Boston, and blocked the harbor.

With his speech, the Virginia lawyer and legislator hoped to galvanize his fellow residents to prepare for a war to repel the abuses of the British monarchy. 

Henry was known to be a great orator, having served in Virginia’s colonial legislature since 1765. According to the Library of Congress, he also once impressed a courtroom with an argument that “man is born with certain inalienable rights,” a phrase which would later be echoed in the Declaration of Independence.

But when Henry delivered his famous rallying cry on that famous day, March 23, 1775, he had not written down his speech. For posterity, it was pieced together from firsthand witnesses many years later, and some critics question whether he actually uttered the famous phrase. 

But other historians have said there is plenty of evidence Henry spoke those words. “We have multiple people, years later, saying, ‘I remember like it was yesterday,'” historian John Ragosta told AP, adding that Thomas Jefferson was among those who corroborated the report. 

Those witnesses said that Henry, during the speech, had actually raised a letter opener and plunged it under his arm like a dagger into his chest while delivering the famous phrase. Not long afterward, men serving in Virginia’s militias were embroidering “liberty or death” on their heavy canvas shirts.

Henry’s speech also includes many references to God that are worth mentioning. Here are a few:

• “An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!”
• “There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.” 
• “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you receive the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***   

WATCH: A Colonial Williamsburg Re-enactor Delivers Patrick Henry’s Famous Speech as Believed to Have Been Given on March 23, 1775 at St. John’s Henrico Parish Church in Richmond

Contradictions in the Colonial Context

While Henry demanded liberty from the tyranny of the monarchy, he was aware of the contradictions already present in the American experiment at that time. He had written an antislavery letter in 1773, acknowledging that the practice was continuing even as “the rights of humanity are defined and understood with precision, in a country, above all others, fond of liberty.” He called slavery a “lamentable evil” that would someday be abolished. 

In addition, it is true that Henry was not the first to combine the words “liberty or death.” The popular 1712 play “Cato” about a Roman senator contains the following line: “It is not now a time to talk of aught, but chains or conquest, liberty or death.” Jon Kukla, another historian who wrote a book on Patrick Henry, says Cato “would have been part of the literate culture of the age.”

Meanwhile, Henry and his contemporaries were careful to point out that the “liberty” they were fighting for was not the same as a “license” to just do whatever you want. Kukla explains, “Liberty, as they understood it, was not the freedom to do anything you d*** well pleased.”