Lived: 1736-1799 "Give me liberty or give me death!" Lawyer, governor and rebel during the Revolutionary War, Patrick Henry was one of the first to take a stand against the taxation which England placed upon its North American colonies. His inflammatory speeches (some called them treasonous) made a quick star of the young representative from Virginia and painted him as one of the more radical members in a band of radicals. Henry was a major proponent of the Bill of Rights as a balance to what he saw as an overly conservative Constitution and would be chosen for numerous positions once the new government began in earnest.