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[Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.

Patrick Henry

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Patrick Henry
Age: 63 †
Born: 1736
Born: May 29
Died: 1799
Died: June 6
Governor Of Virginia
Lawyer
Politician
Slaveholder
Hanover County
Virginia
Henry
Libertarian
Instruments
Constitution
Government
People
Restraining
Restrain
Instrument

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We should transmit to posterity our abhorrence of slavery.
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What right do they have to say we the people rather than we the States?
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This house protected by an armed citizen. There is absolutely nothing here worth dying for.
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....I am sure that the dangers of this system (the Federal Constitution) are real, when those who have no similar interest with the people of this country (the South) are to legislate for us - when our dearest rights are to be left, in the hands of those, whose advantage it will be to infringe them.
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Suspicion is a virtue as long as its object is the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds. Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel.
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Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty?
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It is the business of a virtuous clergyman to censure vice in every appearance of it.
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My great objection to this government is, that it does not leave us the means of defending our rights, or of waging war against tyrants.
Patrick Henry
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I shall act as I think my duty requires.
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I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.
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The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
Patrick Henry
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We have not yet begun to fight.
Patrick Henry
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I am not a Virginian, I am an American.
Patrick Henry
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The eternal difference between right and wrong does not fluctuate, it is immutable.
Patrick Henry
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We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
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Away with your president! We shall have a king... the army will salute him as monarch your militia will leave you and assist in making him king and fight against you. And what have you to oppose this force? What will then become of you and your rights?
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The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery
Patrick Henry
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Were my soul trembling on the wing of eternity, were this hand freezing to death, were my voice choking with the last struggle, I would still, with the last gasp of that voice, implore you to remember the truth: God has given America to be free.
Patrick Henry
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Being a Christian... is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast.
Patrick Henry
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I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion.
Patrick Henry