IS LIFE SO DEAR AS TO BE PURCHASED.AT THE PRICE OF SLAVERY?

"GIVE ME LIBERTY, OR GIVE ME DEATH."

Richmond, Virginia (JFK+50) On March 23, 1775, Virginia's  Patrick Henry* spoke at the Second Virginia Convention here in Richmond in support of resolutions to organize the militia and put the colony in a state of defense. 

Mr. Henry said...

"Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne.

We must fight!  I repeat it, sir, we must fight!  There is no retreat but in submission and slavery!  Our chains are forged!  Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!  The war is inevitable and let it come!

"Gentlemen may cry: peace! peace! but there is no peace.  The war is actually begun.  Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  No!  Forbid it Almighty God.  I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

A common theme of the speeches of President John F. Kennedy is LIBERTY.  JFK expanded on Patrick Henry's willingness to sacrifice for liberty in his Inaugural Address of January 20, 1961.  The President said...

"We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

JFK+50 NOTE:

I find it interesting that not only did Patrick Henry and JFK share the love of liberty, they also shared the same birthday, May 29th.

*Patrick Henry (1736-1799) was born in Hanover County, Virginia & passed the bar in 1760.  PH was a member of the House of Burgesses and a delegate at the 2nd Virginia Convention when he gave his famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech.

SOURCES

"Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death," Colonial Williamsburg, www.history.org/

"Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry," by William Wirt, 1836.

Currier & Ives

circa 1876

JFK'S LOVE OF LIBERTY

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1799

JFK'S LOVE OF LIBERTY CAME NATURALLY

Boston, Massachusetts (JFK+50) As President of the United States during the Cold War, John F. Kennedy often spoke about the importance of liberty both in the nation and around the world.  JFK's love of liberty came naturally.  He was born in a city where the seeds of American liberty were sewn, Boston, Massachusetts.

Two hundred forty-two years ago this evening, December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty* boarded three British East India Company ships (Beaver, Dartmouth, & Eleanor) docked at Griffin's Wharf and destroyed 342 chests of tea in protest of the British Tea Act of 1773 which gave a monopoly on the sale of imported tea to the American colonies to the British company.

While the tea act effectively lowered the price of tea, it maintained the tax and forced the colonists, in buying the tea and paying the tax, to accept the principle of taxation by the British Parliament.  Since the colonists had no representatives in that body, they argued that this was "taxation without representation."

Approximately 200 men were involved in the tea party, many dressed as Mohawk Indians and carrying a variety of axes.  The purpose of the disguise was to protect the individual identities of the participants.

 One of the men, identified as George Hewes, said...

"In about 3 hours from the time we went on board, we...had...thrown overboard every tea chest to be found."

The Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum says that 92,000 pounds of tea were destroyed which would have a value today of $1,700,000.  Other than the tea itself and a broken padlock, no damage was done to the ships or their crews.  In fact, the "indians" were very careful to sweep the decks clean and put everything back in place after the "party."

Today, on the 242nd anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, free admission will be offered to visitors to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum and there will also be a parade.

The Boston Tea Party led to the passage of the Coercive Acts, known as the Intolerable Acts in America, which punished the city of Boston and the colony of Massachusetts for the deed.Both the Tea Party and Coercive Acts were important causes leading to the outbreak of the American Revolution.

*Sons of Liberty was a secret colonial society founded by Samuel Adams to protect the rights of Americans and to fight against British taxation laws.  The group included John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere and Joseph Warren.

SOURCE

"Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum," www.bostonteapartyship.com

Boston Tea Party 

Ships & Museum

35mm Slide

Photo by John White (1987)

John White 

Boston Tea Party

Ships & Museum 

October 1987

Boston Tea Party

Ships & Museum

Photo by John White

October 1987