Hello and welcome to this day, a history podcast from Radiotopia. My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, 250 years ago, technically March 23rd, a revolutionary icon uttered some of the most

famous words in American history, or did he? Patrick Henry of Virginia,

addressing a group at a church in 1775 in the run-up to the American Revolution, a fiery speech,

one that would galvanize and inspire everyone who witnessed it, and in that speech, Henry is said

to have uttered those famous words, give me liberty or give me death.

Folks, we are truly in dad history mode here. This is like an American Revolution clarion call,

an absolutely unforgettable piece of oratory, except maybe kind of forgettable because no one seems

to remember if Henry actually said that. So here to discuss

give me liberty or give me death, Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of

Wellesley. Hey there. Hello, Jody. Hey there. Well, I mean, I think I should start with the

obvious question. You know, when offered the choice, where do you land? I'll go liberty, I think. We'll go Liberty all day, every day.

I know it's a real Sophie's choice, but, you know.

Yeah, Liberty sounds nice. Okay. So we'll get to sort of why that choice was so

impactful at the moment and the framing of that choice and of course whether he

actually said those words but let's let's get to know Patrick Henry a little bit first what do we

need to know about this Virginia yeah he's he's an interesting character so born in Virginia and

from a life of of privilege you know he goes to school but pretty much gets tutored by his father

who attended

King's College and, you know, gets exposed to sort of all the types of leadership he should have

as an adult. He's known as being sort of a character, pretty charismatic, pretty charming,

no trouble with the ladies. He liked to, he was known as being a good dancer, which I would love to kind of see, like, your dance moves?

...