Customer Reviews

Biography - Patrick Henry [VHS]

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This 1995 A&E Biography video goes a long way to reminding viewers just how critical a role Patrick Henry played in the creation of the United States of America. Nowadays, most people could identify Henry as the man who said "Give me liberty or give me death!" but only a minority can call to mind anything else about the man. Many may be shocked to learn that Henry spoke out passionately against the new Constitution and almost led Virginia to reject the new government being formed on James Madison's blueprint.

Patrick Henry always seemed to dwell in his own niche. His mother came from an established (though not aristocratic) family, while his father was a Scottish immigrant who went on to become a justice. Henry was educated, but not in a formal way, and this fairly typical young man found himself able to associate with aristocrats while observing and learning from the lawyers and gentry of colonial Virginia. While he remained a member of the Anglican Church, his mother was drawn to the movement of the Great Awakening, and the new style of evangelical oratory probably did much to influence his own oratorical skills. For many, Henry became the voice of the Revolution, and it can be argued that no other Revolutionary leader, not even George Washington, was as loved as was Patrick Henry.

This video takes you through Henry's formative years, gives you a strong taste of the great orator's first real public speech, and puts particular emphasis on Henry's true coming of age in 1765. With an assembly complaining but doing nothing about the new Stamp Act, Henry raised the roof of Virginia's House of Burgesses by calling for a declaration of economic independence from England. Many consider this the first verbal shot of the Revolution, and it came ten years before the first muskets were fired at Lexington, Massachusetts. Henry became more outspoken over the course of the next decade, but it was not until 1775 that Henry, with both Washington and Jefferson in attendance at the Second Virginia Convention, gave the speech he is most famous for today.

Henry's career did not end with his call for liberty or death, however. He served three terms as Virginia's first governor (and two additional terms in the 1780s). In 1788, he forcefully opposed the ratification of the new Constitution, fearing that a centralized federal government would take away some of the liberty he and his countrymen enjoyed in the wake of the American Revolution; his passionate dissent would have some bearing on the issuance of the Bill of Rights the next year, but Henry's fears for the loss of liberty never abated. One of the most interesting things covered here, though, involves Thomas Jefferson's grudge against Henry; friends and allies for years, Jefferson, during his governorship, blamed Henry for criticism he was receiving, and despite the fact Henry had nothing to do with it, Jefferson stubbornly refused to ever speak to him again. This is a telling point, I feel; for all of the glory heaped upon Jefferson, such incidents of smallness of character only go to show just how beloved and important a man such as Patrick Henry was. Patrick Henry truly was the voice of the Revolution, as this video makes clear.

This movie is very enlightening. Henry, an almost forgotton hero of the American Revolution, is brought to life on video. His famous speeches are reproduced and one can see portraits of him and hear historians speak about the great orator.

Was an okay characterisation of this forgotten founder. Would like to have seen more about what he did prior to his role towards independence. Mid 90s format could do with a digital upgrade to improve interest. For fans of Patrick Henry you can certainly buy the DVD but a book would get my vote due mainly to the 90s format which did make the storyline feel a little dated.