Patrick Henry: The Anti-Madison
From Michael Klarman’s review of Pauline Maier’s book Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 in the Harvard Law Review: If Madison is the hero of Ratification, then Patrick Henry...
View ArticleThe Virginians
Ratifying the U.S. Constitution in Virginia The Philadelphia Convention rent Virginia’s political elite as no event ever had. Not only had Patrick Henry refused his proffered seat (he said he “smelt a...
View ArticleThe Economics of Patrick Henry’s Proposal for Tax-Supported Clergy
Mark L. Movesian’s post on the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom of 1786 brought to mind Patrick Henry’s failed 1784 proposal, A Bill Establishing A Provision for Teachers of the Christian...
View ArticleThe Fiery Patrick Henry
In 1775, a 36-year-old named Patrick Henry swung the balance of the Second Virginia Convention with these words: Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life...
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