Question

Read this excerpt from Patrick Henry’s speech “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” What is the main idea of the text? We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. 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! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free—if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending—if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained—we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!

Answer 1

Patrick Henry was an American attorney and orator who served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia.

In this text, Patrick Henry claims that the Patriots have tried everything they could to stop the tyranny of the British government. The government, on the other hand, has ignored them. Now, they have concluded that there is no hope for the two sides to be reconciled. The only option they have left is to fight against Britain.

Answer 2

The Patriots tried every peaceful way they could to get the Loyalists to give them their well-earned freedom, yet all of their efforts were torn down. Patrick Henry believes that the only way to win freedom for the Patriots is to fight for it.