Patrick Henry established himself as a Virginia lawyer and gained public attention in the Parson's Cause of 1763, challenging claims grounded in royal authority. The case concerned clergy pay and the crown's rejection of a colonial law. Elected to the House of Burgesses, he spoke forcefully against the Stamp Act in 1765. His skill as an orator made him a prominent advocate of colonial resistance. He joined the First Continental Congress in 1774 and supported coordinated measures opposing parliamentary policy.

At the Virginia Convention in 1775, Henry urged preparation for armed resistance. The speech associated with the phrase Give me liberty, or give me death was reconstructed in a later biography rather than preserved as a contemporary verbatim transcript. He also mobilized forces during the dispute over powder removed by the royal governor. In 1776 he supported independence and participated in the convention that established Virginia's new constitution and declaration of rights.

Henry served as governor from 1776 to 1779 and again from 1784 to 1786, dealing with wartime defense and the problems of postwar government. Between these terms he remained active in the legislature. He supported a proposal for public funding of religious teachers, which opponents including Madison rejected in favor of a stronger separation of religion and government. His views therefore combined resistance to royal power with positions that differed from some other founders on religious liberty.

Henry declined to attend the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and became a leading opponent of ratification in Virginia in 1788. He feared consolidated federal authority and emphasized the absence of a bill of rights. Although ratification proceeded, the proposed amendments reflected concerns voiced by him and other critics. He later resumed legal practice and declined several national appointments. His final political stance supported preservation of the Union against disruptive state resistance. He died in 1799. Henry owned enslaved people despite criticizing slavery in principle, a contradiction that limits any simple portrayal as a universal defender of freedom. His career shaped revolutionary mobilization and constitutional debate through public argument rather than national executive leadership. The legacy of his speeches must be assessed alongside the practical policies he supported and the groups excluded from the liberty he proclaimed.