HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — Hendersonville-based Revolutionary War re-enactor Don Hendrix presented a program on the ideas of Patrick Henry leading up to his famous speech before the onset of the Revolutionary War during a breakfast meeting of the Henderson County Republican Men’s Club  early March 14 at American Legion Post 77 here.

About 50 people attended, including a contingent of Republicans from neighboring Buncombe County who said they came to observe the successful HCRMC’s meeting format and functioning.

After reciting a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, HCRMC President Bill Fishburne reviewed  the monthly treasurer’s report by Ed Carlisle, noting that the club has 21 paid regular members (men) and 13 paid associate members (women) for a total of 34. The report added that a many regular members still have not paid their $30 in annual dues.

Next, Fishburne rccognized elected officials in attendance, which included state Rep. Jake Johnson, R-Saluda; Henderson County Commissioner Jay Egolf and District Court Judge Abe Hudson, among others.

Fishburne then called on both Rep. Johnson and Henry D. Mitchell, who represented the campaign of U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-Flat Rock, who each gave thanks to the GOP faithful for their votes in the March 3 primary, enabling Johnson and Edwards to advance to the general elections on Nov. 3.

Also, Fishburne recognized Greg Beam, chairman of the Henderson County Republican Party, who invited Republicans to attend the upcoming annual county GOP convention.

Specifically, he noted that the Henderson County GOP Convention is scheduled at 10 a.m. March 28 at Apple Valley Middle School, 43 Fruitland Road. The precinct meetings will be held in the cafeteria, followed by the convention in the auditorium. Lunch will be available at $10 (delivered from Chick-fil-A and Honey-Baked Ham), with pre-orders required by visiting online and ordering at www.HCGOPNC.org.

At that point (9:30 a.m.), Fishburne introduced Hendrix who has performed in re-enactment programs for 35 years, to present the meeting’s keynote address.

“I would like to introduce Mr. Patrick Henry!” Fishburne said with a big smile.

Hendrix began his presentation by dedicating his speech “to my son Ryan, an officer who died five years ago.” (Specifically, Henderson County Deputy Ryan Hendrix was killed in the line of duty in 2020.)

Hendrix asserted, “When the first Continental Congress met… they opened up on Sept. 5, presenting credentials, and on Sept. 6, the first argument was: ‘Should we have a preacher open  every session with a prayer?’… So it was chosen” to have a Protestant preacher or a Roman Catholic priest say a prayer to begin each session.

It also was decided that “every state was to receive one vote... Patrick Henry said that ‘if that’s what it’s going to be, that’s OK with me — as long as it’s unified...’”

In 1774, “when a rider came in (to Philadelphia) and said the town of Charles Town (Mass.) was destroyed by the British, Patrick Henry proclaimed: “I am not a Virginian, but an American.” His statement, Hendrix said, represented a pivotal shift toward unified colonial resistance, emphasizing colonial unity over provincial interests. 

Next, Hendrix noted the influence of the Rev. Jacob Duché (1738–1798), an Anglican clergyman in Philadelphia who played a significant role in the early days of the Continental Congress, which Patrick Henry attended in 1774.

Hendrix prompted some chuckles from the program attendees when he quipped, “I may be preaching to the choir today _— but sometimes the choir needs preaching to.” 

He then reviewed the economic philosophy of mercantilism.. “They (Western European countries) practiced the economic golden rule” of mercantilism, which he defined as: “He who has the gold makes the rules!” Hendrix said.

Mercantilism was practiced by England, France and Spain, mainly, along with — to a lesser extent — Italy, the Dutch and others.

In England’s view, Hendrix emphasized, “The purpose of the colonies was to serve the Mother Country. In turn, they (the British) would provide you with protection.... So that’s mercantilism — collect as much gold and silver as possible” from the colonies.

Next, Hendrix addressed the Enlightenment, noting that John Locke of England was “the great philosopher of that time.” He credited Locke with espousing the idea that “government doesn’t grant rights… it protects rights” — a foundational principle of American constitutionalism, rooted in the belief that individuals possess inherent, unalienable rights (such as life, liberty, and property) from a higher source, such as a Creator or natural law, rather than the government. 

These rights pre-exist government, which is instituted solely to protect them, he noted.

Continuing, Hendrix noted that, in 1748, Samuel Davies, was considered “a great Presbyterian minister” in Hanover County, Va., and was known to have heavily influenced Patrick Henry, especially in his youth.

To that end, when Patrick Henry was 12 years old and growing up in Hanover County, his father was an Anglican, while his mother was “a dissenter — a Presbyterian.” Patrick Henry “was so impressed with Samuel Davies that he fashioned his speech” patterns after Davies’, Hendrix said.

On his way home from church one Sunday, his mother questioned Patrick Henry about details of the morning’s sermon. To the young patriot, Samuel Davies was the greatest speaker he had ever heard, “which,” Hendrix noted, “is saying a lot because, at that time Patrick Henry was considered the greatest speaker of his time.”

Hendrix then noted, “With the end of the French and Indian War, both England and its post-war colonies were facing a post-war depression. King George is on the throne and he learns that England is now in debt tremendously....

“Then there’s the Navigation Act, which means colonies couldn’t manufacture anything and that all raw materials have to be sent to England. So they didn’t have much gold and silver in the colonies” — and what gold and silver the colonists did have mainly came from trade with the Dutch and the Spaniards.

“So the economy is slowing down, so they (the British) tightened up the Navigation Act...

“They (the British) left 10,000 soldiers in America” — supposedly “to protect us (the colonists) from the wild Indians.” However, Hendrix said the colonists contended that they did not need the soldiers’ costly protection — and that the British soldiers failed miserably in their battles with the Indians.

Hendrix then referred to the Pontiac Rebellion (1763-1766), in which Chief Pontiac eventually was killed — “and that was the end of the Indian rebellion.”

Once again, “you can take your soldiers back (to England), the colonists told the king,” Hendrix said, again to no avail.

What’s more, to keep peace with the Indians, the king said no white settlement would be allowed beyond the first eastern peak of the mountain ranges, from Georgia to New England. “But there were white settlers west of that line,” including in what is the Western North Carolina area, Hendrix said.

Eventually, Patrick Henry became an attorney — “and was asked to defend the farmers against the preachers,” Hendrix said. “They (farmers) sued (the preachers) and lost in America. They took their case to England, where they won.”

Patrick Henry’s father, John, served as the judge in the case, which, Hendrix noted, caused some controversy. The case concerned how much money should they should give to the ministers. In Patrick Henry’s winning of the case, a decision had to be made on how much the farmers had to pay the ministers — and the jury decided the penalty was “one penny.”

In 1765, Patrick Henry was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, while a year earlier, the British Parliament enacted the Sugar Act — a tax on molasses — on the colonists. “I don’t know how they made rum out of molasses,” Hendrix said, shaking his head.

As for the Sugar Act, “the British made it three pennies. The colonists questioned how could they make money with that situation? They decided they could do it by smuggling.”

In the resulting smuggling cases, the question arose as to how the judges would get paid.

It was decided that the judges should be empowered to sell the ships involved in the smuggling cases they heard — and retain the proceeds of the sale as their payment for hearing such a case. “The Sugar Act really hurt the colonies,” Hendrix said.

We also had the Currency Act in 1764. “The danger is if you print too much paper money, it gets inflated,”  Hendrix noted. “It (the Currecy Act) forbade the printing of paper money in the colonies.... 

“If you have these independent farmers and they all have weapons… that doesn’t bode well for whoever’s in charge...

“In 1765, the Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament, triggering riots in the colonies. Up and down the coast, they had tea parties, featuring the dumping of tea...

“The problem with the Stamp Act was that you had to pay in gold and silver, which further slowed down the colonies’ economy. The money went to cover the cost of British solders stationed in the colonies to defend against the Indians. 

“Then there was an uprising in the colonies, so the king and the Parliament agreed to get rid of the Stamp Act in 1766. But they also passed an act saying England has the right, in every case, to rule over the colonies.”

Again, Hendrix noted, “the colonies refused the Stamp Act… It was a direct tax and the colonists refused to pay it.

“So the next governor said, if they (the colonists) won’t pay a direct tax, we’ll charge them an indirect tax — via tariffs on glass, paper, lead and tea. And the tax had to be paid in gold or silver.”

Once again, the colonists boycotted British goods —and the colonists were getting really good at smuggling,” Hendrix said.
“Everything was repealed, but....”

In 1770, Lord North took over as the British prime minister and he spoke with the colonists’ leaders, but kept the tax on tea to assert parliamentary supremacy.

Following the 1773 Boston Tea Party, Lord North pushed through the punitive “Intolerable Acts” (1774), which shuttered Boston Harbor and restricted Massachusetts self-government, ultimately uniting the colonies in rebellion.

At that point, Hendrix said, “Now we’re going to have ‘warfare warfare.’ In 1774, we had the five Coercive Acts. It was so of like debtor’s prison. We’ll have martial law. All of the trials for any British officer would be held in England.”

Hendrix added, “The colonies were being treated as mischievous children.

In 1774, the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, where Patrick Henry hears what others say, slaps his hand on the dais and says “We have to fight!” 

Hendrix added, “Others say we can resolve this peacefully. So the group sent a letter to British officials... So they (the 13 Colonies) are now unified, which the British never suspected it would happen.

“In late February 1775, Patrick Henry’s wife Sally dies,” Hendrix stated. “So, with a heavy heart, Patrick Henry leaves for Richmond, Virgina., because they couldn’t meet in the then-capital (Williamsburg), because that was where the British soldiers were stationed...

“They meet on March 20, 1775 …. The (Williamsburg) Virginia Gazette comes out, noting that their petition has been graciously received” by British officials. They’re now called the Second Virginia Convention, with 130 delgates...

“They meet in this large church in Richmond…. so they put out the five resolves. He says in the last resolve that the General Assembly… that this colony (Virginia) be immediately be put in a state of defense.

“Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, they’ve already reached the point that their petition has been ‘graciously received’ in England. In response to Patrick Henry’s resolutions, they asked, How are we to fight the British — especially with a lack of weapons” and other essentials?

Hendrix then walked in front of the lectern and gave —verbatim — Patrick Henry’s greatest speech, ending in “Give me liberty, or give me death!” 

After the speech, Hendrix noted that the resolution “won by five votes.”

(According to AI Overview, “Patrick Henry had delivered the speech to convince the Virginia legislature to prepare for armed conflict against British forces. Following the speech, the resolution to establish a militia passed by a narrow margin, often cited as a small number of votes.”)

As the crowd applauded his program, Hendrix said, “If the Democrats regain power in the mid-terms, they’ve promised us they’d make life hard for us. I think we (patriots) should take them at their word.”

He added that, in his will, Patrick Henry said that "the gift the Founding Fathers gave us is good or bad, depending on how we use it.”