In attendance were Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Reportedly, the crowd, upon hearing the speech, jumped up and shouted, “To Arms! To Arms!”

The speech was given March 23, 1775, at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, and is credited with having single-handedly convinced the Virginia House of Burgesses to pass a resolution delivering the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War. In attendance were Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Reportedly, the crowd, upon hearing the speech, jumped up and shouted, “To Arms! To Arms!”

Patrick Henry was a slave owner, and some of his slaves fought for the British in the American War of Independence because the British promised liberty for slaves who fought with them. Simon Schama argues in Rough Crossings that the fear that the British would liberate slaves following the Somersett Judgement was a motivating force for many Patriots.