Give Me Liberty

Where Virginia chose liberty

1776

Virginia Declaration of Rights Adopted

1765

Patrick Henry's Stamp Act Speech

1776

Richard Henry Lee Proposes Independence Resolution

1775

Virginia's Response to Dunmore's Proclamation

Williamsburg

VA · American Revolution

Virginia's colonial capital was where Patrick Henry declared liberty or death.

The Capital

Events

Stories

Connections

1776

Patrick Henry

The capital of Virginia — and the home of its most dangerous orators.

Relevant

58.15/100

8People10Events2Stories

**Williamsburg and the Revolution: The Capital Where American Liberty Took Shape**

PEOPLE

All People →

Patrick Henry

Orator, Governor of Virginia, House of Burgesses Member

→

Lord Dunmore

Royal Governor of Virginia, British Loyalist Commander

→

George Mason

Political Theorist, Virginia Declaration of Rights Author, Planter

→

George Wythe

Law Professor, Signer of Declaration of Independence, Judge

→

KEY EVENTS

Full Timeline →

Virginia Declaration of Rights Adopted

Jun 1776

→

Patrick Henry's Stamp Act Speech

May 1765

→

Richard Henry Lee Proposes Independence Resolution

Jun 1776

→

Virginia's Response to Dunmore's Proclamation

Nov 1775

→

Virginia Adopts New State Constitution

Jun 1776

→

Gunpowder Incident

Apr 1775

→

STORIES

All Stories →

HISTORICAL VOICE

The Voice That Could Not Be Ignored

Patrick Henry was not the most educated man in the House of Burgesses. He was not the wealthiest or the best connected. What he had was a voice — not just the physical instrument, which contemporaries...

MODERN VOICE

What the Restored Town Gets Right and Wrong

People come to Colonial Williamsburg expecting a quaint colonial village, and what they find, if they pay attention, is a place where the most radical political ideas of the eighteenth century were fi...

View changes for this town Inquire about partnering