audiobook Eminent Buddhist Women by From State University of New York Press in History

Description

This authoritative biography of Patrick Henry—the underappreciated founding father best known for saying; “Give me liberty; or give me death!”—restores him and his fellow Virginians to their seminal place in the story of American independence.Born in 1736; Patrick Henry was an attorney and planter; and an outstanding orator in the movement for independence. A contemporary of Washington; Henry stood with John and Samuel Adams among the leaders of the colonial resistance to Great Britain that ultimately created the United States. The first governor of Virginia after independence; he was re-elected several times. After declining to attend the Constitutional Convention of 1787; Henry opposed the Constitution; arguing that it granted too much power to the central government. Although he denounced slavery as evil; like many other southern slave-owners he accepted its continuation. Henry pushed vigorously for the ten amendments to the new Constitution; and then supported Washington and national unity against the bitter party divisions of the 1790s. He was enormously influential in his time; but his accomplishments; other than his oratory; were subsequently all but forgotten. Kukla’s biography restores Henry and his Virginia compatriots to the front rank of advocates for American independence. Jon Kukla has thoroughly researched Henry’s life; even living on one of Henry’s estates. He brings both newly discovered documents and new insights to the story of the patriot who played a central role in the movement to independence; the Revolution; the Constitutional era; and the early Republic. This book is an important contribution to our understanding of the nation’s founding.