Proclamation Against Patrick Henry, 1775

Patrick Henry (1736–1799) could be considered Virginia’s most outspoken revolutionary. Born in Hanover County, Henry studied law on his own and was admitted to the bar in 1760. In 1763, he spoke out against the action of the king's Privy Council, which had overturned acts passed by Virginia's General Assembly. In a subsequent lawsuit that was part of what became known as the Parsons' Cause, Henry argued that the king and his council had no right to veto a law in Virginia. Calling the king a tyrant, he declared that the king no longer deserved the loyalty of his people. With a victory in the suit, Henry secured his place as a challenger of the monarchy.

In 1765, Henry was elected to represent Louisa County in the House of Burgesses. Although new to the political scene, he quickly made waves by proposing a series of seven resolutions against Parliament's new Stamp Act. In his argument against the tax, Henry mentioned Julius Caesar, alluding to the peril a tyrant could face at the hands of the people. Such potentially treasonous language led to a heated debate about Henry's resolutions, four of which were approved with a slim majority. All seven were publicized throughout the colonies, including one stating that only the colonies had the right to tax themselves. With these resolutions, the unseasoned delegate solidified himself as Virginia’s most radical opposition to British authority. He helped to establish the colony’s Committee of Correspondence to better share information throughout the colonies. In 1774, Henry was elected to the First Continental Congress, where he was one of the few delegates who saw that the colonies were likely on an unavoidable path to war with Great Britian according to Massachusetts delegate John Adams. It is not surprising that in March 1775, Henry successfully argued for the organization of a military defence as a delegate to Virginia's Second Revolutionary Convention. This was prophetic, because just days later the British marched on Lexington in Massachusetts.

During this time, Henry had mustered a volunteer militia in Hanover. When Virginia’s governor Lord Dunmore removed the gunpowder from its storage at Williamsburg’s magazine in the wake of the military engagement in Lexington, Henry marched with his militia to Williamsburg late in April 1775. He demanded the powder's return or monetary compensation to the colony, which he achieved on May 4. Angry and hoping to diminish Henry's support, on May 6, 1775, Dunmore issued this proclamation, which was distributed widely in the pages of the Virginia Gazette.

Henry participated in the Second Continental Congress in 1775, where his draft proposing one last attempt to reconcile with Britain was considered too radical for even the most revolutionary politicians present. After returning to Virginia he resigned his commission in the militia, urging his troops to continue fighting for the American cause. Henry served in the Fifth Virginia Convention in June 1776, helping to write a new constitution for the commonwealth and a resolution to Congress to propose independence. The convention elected Henry as the first governor of Virginia. He served three one-year terms and returned to the General Assembly as a member of the House of Delegates in 1779.

Always wary of centralized authority, Henry was an ardent anti-federalist. He served two more one-year terms as governor in 1785 and 1786. Elected to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, he did not attend and was concerned with the power given to a centralized government, particularly the executive branch. He and his allies fought ratification, but when Virginia determined to ratify the Constitution, he conceded—though after pressuring James Madison to assure Virginians that a Bill of Rights would be included.

From the outset of his career, Patrick Henry fought against authority he deemed to be remote and unresponsive to the people. He quickly made himself an enemy of the Crown with his outspoken support of American prerogatives. It is not surprising that Governor Dunmore went after Henry publicly with this proclamation. Patrick Henry was one of the first Virginians to openly question British authority, and he is considered one of the great leaders of the American Revolution.

Citation: Lord Dunmore, Proclamation, May 15, 1775, Colonial Office 5/1353 (folio 150), Public Record Office of Great Britain, Public Record Office, Kew, England (available on Virginia Colonial Records Project microfilm at the Library of Virginia).

Learn more about Patrick Henry in Shaping the Constitution.

VS.5, VUS.4, USI.6