History test; Part Two

“Give me liberty or give me death!”

      Everyone has heard this phrase, even if they haven’t read the whole speech. The speech can be heard or listen to it hear:
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/133/historic-american-documents/4956/patrick-henrys-speech-to-the-virginia-house-of-burgess-richmond-virginia-march-23-1775/. (I would advise your read it or at least skim over it)

     In the year 1805, 30 years after Patrick Henry gave his memorable speech, an attorney by the name of William Wirt decided to write about the life (and speech) of Henry. This would be a difficult task, however. Even though Henry was widely popular during his time, there were no copies of any of the speeches that he made. In 1815, William Wirt wrote to his friend, discussing the difficulties of chronicling Henry’s life,

     “It was all speaking, speaking, speaking. Tis true he could talk- Gods how he could talk! But there is no acting the while…And then, to make matters worse, from 1763 to 1789…not one of his speeches lives in print writing or memory. All that is told me is, that on such and such occasion, he made a distinguished speech….[T]here are some ugly traits in H’s character, and some pretty nearly as ugly blanks. He was a blank military commander, a blank governor, and a blank politician, in all those useful points which depend on composition and detail. In short, it is, verily, as hopeless as a man could well desire.” (Raphael, Pg 147)

     But Wirt continued and in 1817, he published his book, “Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry”. His purpose, in writing this book, so that “The present and future generations of our country can never be better employed than in studying the models set before them by the fathers of the revolution.” (Raphael, pg 148)…and in selling books.

     42 years after the actual speech, and 18 years after Patrick Henry’s death, his speech was now known to America. But how accurate is Wirt’s rendition of the famous speech? And how did he get his information if, as he wrote earlier to his friend, there were no actual copies of Henry’s speeches?

     Wirt spoke with many men who had been there that memorable day of March 23, 1775, but only thanked one for his help on “remembering” the speech; Judge St. George Tucker.

     Here is how I explained it to my family:

     Left index finger is Patrick Henry. He made his famous “liberty or death” speech, but nobody had written anything about it…or if they had, nobody knew about it.

     Now Mr. Thumb over here is William Wirt, who decided to write about Patrick Henry’s/left finger’s speech. But he needed help.

     So he recruited the help of Judge St. George Tucker to help. (he’s the right index finger) Unfortunately, Tucker didn’t write the speech down either or take any notes, so he could only go off of memory.

     I don’t know about you, but I can hardly remember President Obama’s State of the Union Address that he gave last year. Imagine trying to remember it…30 years after it happened! Unless your, I don’t know, GOD, you wouldn’t be able to remember the speech word for word. You might be able to remember parts of it, but the whole speech? Nope. Even Tucker commented that he didn’t fully remember what was said.

     “In vain should I attempt to give any idea of his speech.” (Raphael, pg 149)

     Anyway, Wirt collaborated with Tucker to write Patrick Henry’s speech. Then, out of the blue-

      POOF! In walks James Parker, (pinkie) a person who was there and actually wrote out what Henry said…while he was saying it;

     “In a letter dated April 6, 1775, James Parker wrote to Charles Stewart, ‘You never heard anything more infamously insolent the P. Henry’s speech; he called the K--- a Tyrant, a fool, a puppet, and a tool to the ministry. Said there was no Englishmen, no Scots, no Britons, but a set of wretches sunk in Luxury, that they had lost their native courage and (were) unable to look the brave Americans in the face…This creature is so infatuated, that he goes about I am told, praying and preaching amongst the common people.’” (Raphael, pg 150)

     But why the change? What was the purpose behind this change? Well, let's compare the two speeches. One, the very opitome of patritism. The other, the ranting of an angry, oppressed man. Which sounds more appealing? Remember, Wirter wanted to write something that would inspire generations to come. If Wirter had written exactly what Patrick Henry said (if he had KNOWN what he had said) would it be as famous as the "liberty or death" alternative? Would we still be teaching this speech in schools today? Would people write books or papers on the speech? Most likely not.

     It's like a quote I once heard, "If you don't like the news, get out and make your own". If we don't like the history, the stories of our beginings, why not change it?

Bibliography

Raphael, Ray. Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic past. New York: New, 2004. Print