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Patrick Henry: The First Great Awakening

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Patrick Henry was a young teen that lived in the dominion of Virginia when he heard Samuel Davies speak. Samuel Davies advocated the New Light, which was derived during the First Great Awakening. Patrick Henry also heard Samuel Davies speak again when he was in his late teens. What he took away from that was religious freedom, which he then later applied to politics. Those led him to more democratic thoughts, such as the idea that the people should only have to follow laws they helped to create. As a young man, Patrick Henry faced financial problems, when his crop failed and his house burned down. Which made him sell everything, and live with his in-laws. He never forgot this, and it made an impact on how he wrote the Virginia Resolves. The Two Penny Act was a charter passed by the House of Burgesses in 1755, and a …show more content…

James Maury sued for back pay for all ministers affected by the Two Penny Act. Patrick Henry was the defendant in the case, and he brought with him the idea that state and religion should be separated, as well as many more democratic points of view, which included that the colonists had the right to determine their own laws, and they do not have to follow laws they did not help to create, and that because of this, there was nothing that gave King George III the right to veto the act, and it should be reinstated. James Maury won the case, and the jury awarded him one penny in damages, despite him wanting an inestimable amount of pounds in payment. All of Patrick Henry’s experiences led to the derivation of his thoughts and political views, as well as the Virginia Resolves. Patrick Henry, in response to the Two Penny Act, wrote the Virginia Resolves in 1765, and got five of seven passed, but the fifth was revoked the next day. Despite this, all seven were published to the colonies, and people inferred that all seven had been

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