[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 39 (Thursday, April 11, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H1270-H1271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PATRICK HENRY: THE VOICE OF A REVOLUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, in the 1830s, the French observer Alexis de 
Tocqueville took a road trip through America. We were a very young 
Nation, less than 60 years old, progressing, as Thomas Jefferson said, 
``beyond the reach of the mortal eye.''
  De Tocqueville came to find out for himself whether the great 
democratic revolution he had been told about was really true. Believing 
that this young nation would ``sway the destinies of half the globe'', 
de Tocqueville wrote, ``I sought for the greatness and genius of 
America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not 
there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not 
there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not 
there. Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her 
pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her 
genius and her power.''
  After all he saw and heard in this young republic, Mr. Speaker, de 
Tocqueville came to believe that the

[[Page H1271]]

church was the source of America's nascent greatness. And it should 
really come as no surprise that from the high steeples and the rows of 
pews have come some of America's greatest figures and most defining 
moments.
  Chief among them was on March 23, 1775. It was a full year before the 
Declaration of Independence would be signed in Philadelphia. The seeds 
of revolution were sewn in Virginia. The midnight hour of British 
tyranny was approaching, forcing the leaders of that Commonwealth to 
choose their course. The debates were fierce and divided. Some argued 
for revolution; others for a more diplomatic outcome.
  In St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, the leaders met again to 
decide the people's fate, and a fiery orator named Patrick Henry rose 
from his chair. Murmurs and whispers greeted him. He was known for his 
lively speeches, entertaining visitors and leaders alike. But the 
opposition was growing increasingly uncomfortable with his claims and 
his call for liberty at any cost.
  Patrick Henry's speech began like an approaching storm. His words 
grew with intensity and power. ``Besides, sir, he said, we shall not 
fight our battle alone. There is a just God who presides over the 
destinies of nations, who will raise up friends to fight our battles 
for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone, it is to the 
vigilant, the active, and the brave.'' And then, with growing momentum, 
he concluded, ``Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased 
at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not 
what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me 
death.'' This was, in fact, the rhetorical shot heard around the world.
  For Patrick Henry, the church was the natural place to say such 
words. He grew up listening to the passionate teachings of traveling 
preachers. He studied their movements and tone. He watched as they 
swayed audiences towards belief.
  But religion for Henry was not a sideshow or politics, or something 
to be left to the pulpit. He knew true belief transformed lives, 
inspiring the heart and steeling the will. He said, ``It cannot be 
emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded 
not by religionists, but by Christians.''
  Patrick Henry would go on to be Governor of Virginia five times, and 
was instrumental in drafting its first constitution. But in all his 
experience, he grew more and more to believe in the importance and the 
centrality of the Christian faith.
  Let us close with the words of Alexis de Tocqueville, who would write 
some 50 years later of the experiences of the Revolution that, as was 
the case with Patrick Henry, ``Christianity is the companion of liberty 
in all its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy and the divine source 
of its claims.''
  Mr. Speaker, may we ever remember that from the fire of faith comes 
the future of freedom.

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