Give me liberty or death

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter.

Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these war-like preparations which cover our waters and darken our land.

We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament.

Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?

We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament.

If we wish to be free² if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending²if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight!

Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received?

Let us not deceive ourselves, sir.

I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission?

Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne.

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves, and the House?

We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament.

Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty?

Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies?

Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?

Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.

Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love?

We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament.

We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain.

Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?

These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort.

For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate.

If we wish to be free² if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending²if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary.

Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on.

I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission?

I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission?

Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves.

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary.

Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss.

If we wish to be free² if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending²if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight!

Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope.

For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary.

The war is inevitable²and let it come!

For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate.