Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" Speech

You are all familiar with the speech that Patrick Henry gave in March of 1775 to the Virginia House of Burgesses as it became apparent that war was imminent with Britain.  I was hoping to include a video of this speech for my online history classes this fall, because it shows how clear it was that the only question was not whether war with Britain was coming, but when.

There is, of course, no shortage of readings of this speech.  It has been popular among Tea Partiers and other right-wing groups for many years.  Unfortunately, the quality of these presentations varies quite dramatically.  What I want is someone doing the speech well in period costume in either a plausibly period setting, or doing the speech well with some appropriate visuals.

In short: what do you consider the best online version of the speech?

UPDATE: This version, while not terribly sharp visually, is well done!  Thanks, readers!

2 comments:

  1. The rising People, hot and out of breath,
    Roared around the palace: "Liberty or death!"
    "If death will do," the King said, "let me reign;
    You'll have, I'm sure, no reason to complain."
    —Martha Braymance

    ("quoted" in The Devil's Dictionary

    ReplyDelete
  2. This version is not bad. Not bad at all.

    http://youtu.be/yLJk68yiDqk

    ReplyDelete