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!

Patrick Henry (May 29 1736 – June 6 1799) was an attorney planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. He opposed the United States Constitution fearing that it endangered the rights of the States as well as the freedoms of individuals; he helped gain adoption of the Bill of Rights. By 1779 along with his cousin and her husband Henry owned a 10000-acre (40 km2) plantation known by the name of Leatherwood.