Give me Liberty, or give me Death…
Liberty, like Catullian Falernum, exhilarates, then inebriates, and finally takes control of all our senses, just as we ourselves are losing control over them. The American struggle for independence from Britain was an exciting time to be living through, and, while applauding all American Patriots, such as Patrick Henry of this entry’s title, I am quite certain that all of them got “their money’s worth” from the delicious Falernum of the Revolutionary War; and their common experience can only be much envied.
As for Patrick Henry (even if his fiery revolutionary credentials may have been apocryphally embellished), he remained inebriated after the Revolution, for which reason he became a staunch anti-Federalist and voted against the Constitution. However, the excesses of the French Revolution, which effectively equated "Liberty" with "Death," quickly sobered him up, and after that he hastily reversed himself in favor of pure and simple Federalism.
One particular element regarding the cast of characters of the American Revolution merits a further general comment. Like any revolution, it had its fair share of firebrands (sadly epitomized by James Otis, and, to a less provocative extent, represented by Samuel Adams and the Englishman Thomas Paine), but also a good number of quick-to-sober pragmatic revolutionists, like all those who would later line up for the Presidency of the United States, from George Washington to James Monroe, plus Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States. To all those Founding Fathers who are otherwise unrecognized by separate entries in my book, I dedicate this short and rather unusual tribute.
Minister vetuli puer Falerni,
inger mi calices amariores,
ut lex Postumiae iubet magistrae
ebrioso acino ebriosioris.
At vos quo lubet hinc abite, lymphae,
vini pernicies, et ad severos
migrate. Hic merus est Thyonianus.
(Catullus: Carmen #27.)
Liberty, like Catullian Falernum, exhilarates, then inebriates, and finally takes control of all our senses, just as we ourselves are losing control over them. The American struggle for independence from Britain was an exciting time to be living through, and, while applauding all American Patriots, such as Patrick Henry of this entry’s title, I am quite certain that all of them got “their money’s worth” from the delicious Falernum of the Revolutionary War; and their common experience can only be much envied.
As for Patrick Henry (even if his fiery revolutionary credentials may have been apocryphally embellished), he remained inebriated after the Revolution, for which reason he became a staunch anti-Federalist and voted against the Constitution. However, the excesses of the French Revolution, which effectively equated "Liberty" with "Death," quickly sobered him up, and after that he hastily reversed himself in favor of pure and simple Federalism.
One particular element regarding the cast of characters of the American Revolution merits a further general comment. Like any revolution, it had its fair share of firebrands (sadly epitomized by James Otis, and, to a less provocative extent, represented by Samuel Adams and the Englishman Thomas Paine), but also a good number of quick-to-sober pragmatic revolutionists, like all those who would later line up for the Presidency of the United States, from George Washington to James Monroe, plus Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States. To all those Founding Fathers who are otherwise unrecognized by separate entries in my book, I dedicate this short and rather unusual tribute.
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