This excerpt mentioned makes part of the bigger speech given by Patrick Henry, in the Second Virginia Convention, 1775, before the entire participants at the Convention, in Richmond, at St John´s Church. This quotation of "liberty or death" is just part of the exhortation that Henry makes to his peers and the nation at large to make the final decision to break all ties with the British crown and give themselves over to the cause of patriotism and the search for liberty. This speech, it is important to understand, comes at a time when most Americans refused to accept that they could be heading for a war with Britain and when people sought a reconciliation with their motherland. This can be seen in this speech at several places, where Henry reflects on the efforts made by the leaders and the people to re-establish peace with their British ruler, but nowhere else more clearly than in lines 2 to 4, where Henry says: Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. After this line, Henry goes on until line 16 to underline all the efforst that have been made, in detail, to regain the favor of the British crown, all in vain.
