Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/Patrick Henry/archive1
Patrick Henry (1736 – 1799) was an American attorney known for his declaration to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty, or give me death!" Beginning a law practice in 1760, he soon became prominent through his victory in the Parson's Cause. Henry was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he quickly became notable for his inflammatory rhetoric against the Stamp Act of 1765. In 1774 and 1775, Henry served as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses. Back in Virginia, Henry urged independence, and when this was declared, served as governor until 1779, and then in the Virginia House of Delegates until he began his last two terms as governor in 1784. Henry fear eda strong federal government, and he actively opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. A slaveholder throughout his adult life, he hoped to see the institution end, but had no plan for that. Henry is remembered for his oratory, and as a Founding Father. (Full article...)