[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 56 (Tuesday, March 25, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 13551-13552]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-05150]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 56 / Tuesday, March 25, 2025 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 13551]]

                Proclamation 10906 of March 20, 2025

                
250th Anniversary of Patrick Henry's ``Give Me 
                Liberty, Or Give Me Death!'' Speech

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Our Nation proudly commemorates the 250th anniversary 
                of Patrick Henry's address to the Second Virginia 
                Convention--a seminal moment in our great American 
                story and a fateful turning point in America's epic 
                struggle for Independence.

                On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry rose to the pulpit of 
                St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, to speak those 
                immortal words that remain etched upon every American 
                heart: ``Give me Liberty, or give me death!''

                In the wake of escalating tensions between the Patriots 
                and the Redcoats, Henry delivered this stirring address 
                before more than 100 delegates, including George 
                Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and many of the statesmen 
                who would go on to sign the Declaration of 
                Independence. Following the bloody Boston Massacre and 
                the British Parliament's authoritarian imposition of 
                the Intolerable Acts--which closed the Boston Harbor 
                and stripped New England Colonists of their right to 
                self-govern--American leaders deliberated whether to 
                continue their pursuit of peace, or as a final 
                recourse, to take up arms in the rebellion.

                With British tyranny on the rise and American 
                confidence in retreat, the Second Virginia Convention 
                assembled. Patrick Henry, a respected lawyer who had 
                recently served as a delegate to the Continental 
                Congress, arrived at the Convention with one goal in 
                mind: to galvanize militiamen into securing ``our 
                inestimable rights and liberties, from those further 
                violations with which they are threatened.''

                Some members cautioned against such decisive action, 
                insisting that peaceful reconciliation was still 
                possible, but as Henry listened, he grew more 
                impatient. A Baptist minister who observed the 
                proceedings later recalled that he had ``an unearthly 
                fire burning in his eye.'' Overcome with righteous 
                indignation, Henry rose from his seat with no notes in 
                hand, boldly beseeching his fellow Virginians: ``If we 
                wish to be free . . . we must fight!'' At a moment when 
                America's fate hung in the balance, Henry's words 
                sparked daring action in the souls of patriots, 
                fortified the cause of freedom, and set America on the 
                path to ultimate triumph over forces of tyranny and 
                oppression. By a narrow margin, the Second Virginia 
                Convention passed the resolution to form a militia--the 
                first critical step to Independence.

                ``It is not now easy to say what we should have done 
                without Patrick Henry,'' Thomas Jefferson later wrote. 
                ``He was before us all in maintaining the spirit of the 
                Revolution.'' As we approach the 250th anniversary of 
                our Nation's Independence on July 4, 2026, we look to 
                Patrick Henry, a son of the frontier, the first and 
                sixth Governor of Virginia, an unflinching advocate for 
                American Independence, and a true man of his moment. 
                Today, we invoke his courage, we honor his legacy, and 
                we fearlessly summon the spirit of 1776 to build a 
                future that we will be proud to impart on our children. 
                Like Patrick Henry and the giants of American liberty 
                who came before us, now is our time to ring that great 
                bell of American freedom and to propel our Nation into 
                a new and radiant golden age.

[[Page 13552]]

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States, do hereby proclaim March 23, 2025, as a 
                day in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Patrick 
                Henry's speech to the Second Virginia Convention.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                ninth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2025-05150
Filed 3-24-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P