On his 29th birthday – May 29, 1765 – Patrick Henry helped spark the American Revolution. His Virginia Resolves against the Stamp Act didn’t just defy British rule—they laid down bedrock principles that would become cornerstones of American liberty.
The next day, he delivered a thunderous speech in defense of the Resolves – ending with the now-immortal line: “If this be treason…” Thomas Jefferson later recalled it as filled with “torrents of sublime eloquence.”
But Henry’s Resolutions and speech weren’t just about one act at one moment in time. They were packed with foundational principles, including:
- A precursor to the 10th Amendment
Henry argued that while Parliament might handle general matters affecting all, anything related to “internal policy and taxation” could only come from the people’s local representatives. Sounds like the roots of the Tenth Amendment, doesn’t it? - Precedent and usurpation
As Jefferson later warned, even one step beyond constitutional limits opened a “boundless field of power.” Henry’s resolutions made the same point: that “every Attempt to vest such Power” over internal policy and taxation in Parliament – rather than Virginia’s own assembly – would “destroy … American freedom.” - Acts of usurpation are void
Henry’s resolutions declared that the people “are not bound to yield obedience to any law or ordinance whatsoever” that tries to usurp local control over internal policy and taxation. Even Alexander Hamilton echoed this principle years later, saying laws not made in pursuance of the Constitution are usurpations – “and deserve to be treated as such.”
All seven of Henry’s resolutions passed the Committee of the Whole and were sent to the full House for debate on May 30. But before the House could act, the resolutions were sent to newspapers – spreading across the colonies like wildfire and sparking concrete resistance, including outright nullification by a colonial court in Maryland.
The resolutions were fiercely debated, and on May 30 only the first five were approved – by narrow margins. The fifth passed by just one vote. As Joe Wolverton noted, “It was during the debate on this fifth and most contentious of the first five resolutions that Patrick Henry spoke words that have been passed into the lore of the early days of American discontent with English rule.”
Biographer William Wirt described his stirring remarks as well as the reaction:
It was in the midst of this magnificent debate, while he was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious Act, that he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, and with the look of a god, “Caesar had his Brutus — Charles the first, his Cromwell — and George the third — ” (“Treason,” cried the Speaker — “treason, treason,” echoed from every part of the House. — It was one of those trying moments which is decisive of character. — Henry faltered not an instant; but rising to a loftier attitude, and fixing on the Speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished his sentence with the firmest emphasis) “may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.”
Wolverton continued:
Satisfied with the passage of his resolutions, Henry left for home – convinced he had done great work. But the next day, May 31, the House reconsidered and rescinded the fifth and most controversial resolution, leaving only the first four officially adopted.
The fifth resolution, the one rescinded by, as Jefferson called them, “the more timid” members of the House, was the one that read:
Resolved, Therefore that the General Assembly of this colony have the only and sole exclusive right and power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants of this colony and that every attempt to vest such power in any person or persons whatsoever other than the General Assembly aforesaid has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American freedom.
Passed, failed, or even rescinded – none of it changed the impact of Patrick Henry’s Virginia Resolves. The principles behind them had already lit the flame of liberty – and sparked resistance to the Stamp Act.
Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts noted, “Nothing extravagant appeared in the papers till an account was received of the Virginia Resolves.” Edmund Burke saw them as the spark for the resistance to the Stamp Act that led toward American independence.
As Henry noted years later, it was this flame of liberty that won the day:
“When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different: Liberty sir, was the primary object.”
Whether we’re commemorating Patrick Henry’s birthday, his stand against the Stamp Act, his fiery speech, or the resistance he helped ignite – these are things worth remembering and acting on not just today, but every single day of the year.
- Arbitrary Power: The Definition of Tyranny - April 23, 2025
- How British Gun Control was the Spark that Started the War for Independence - April 18, 2025
- Tax Resistance and the Birth of the American Revolution - April 15, 2025