The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable; and let it come! I repeat, Sir, let it come!

Patrick Henry (May 29 1736 – June 6 1799) was an attorney planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. He opposed the United States Constitution fearing that it endangered the rights of the States as well as the freedoms of individuals; he helped gain adoption of the Bill of Rights. By 1779 along with his cousin and her husband Henry owned a 10000-acre (40 km2) plantation known by the name of Leatherwood.