Tuesday 20 March 2012

Lion of Liberty by Harlow G. Unger

From The Week of March 12, 2012


Even those of us who do not subscribe to the Great Man theory of history must concede that there are turning points in time, nexuses at which momentous events are met and shaped by special individuals. Julius Caesar at Pharsalus, King John with Magna Carta, and Abraham Lincoln in the American Civil War are just a few examples of the countless incidents at which individual will re-wove the tapestry of humanity's future. Perhaps we would all be better off if this were not the case, as, in such contests, the authoritarians appear to carry the day as often as the altruists, but not all things can be decided in committee. Sometimes, decisiveness is required to seize the moment and forge from it a lasting good that will outlast a lifetime. Though he was no less flawed than the rest of us, Patrick Henry stood at the heart of one such moment. This alone makes him a man worthy of study.

A man of homesteads and faith, of country life and country values, Patrick Henry (1736-1799) rose up from modest origins to not only help win American independence, but to leave a lasting legacy on the nation he helped create. The Virginian-born son of Scottish and English immigrants, he twice, in his youth, tried his hand at entrepreneurial enterprise, failing on both occasions, calamities that left his learned and ambitious family concerned for his future. But after becoming a lawyer in his mid-twenties, and after using his gift for oratory to mount several successful defenses of Virginian clients, he found his calling.

His ascending star eventually took him, at 29, to the Virginia legislature where, after the Boston Tea Party signalled the Massachusetts rebellion, he gave an impassioned speech advocating that Virginia, by far the largest and wealthiest of the American colonies, should rise up in common cause with the Boston radicals and throw off English tyranny. This speech, along with his singular oratory and his unwillingness to accede to the conventions of the moment, eventually elevated him to the newly created office of Governor of Virginia, a position he would hold through some of the most turbulent moments of the fight for American independence. Though he is now best remembered for the patriotic slogan, "give me liberty or give me death," his contributions to the formative years of the United States, along with his advocacy for the anti-Federalist cause, have left upon his country an imprint the likes of which has been bettered by only a few.

Lion of Liberty is an excellent, if myopic, biography of one of the United States' founding figures. Mr. Unger, an American historian, has winningly captured both the life and the mentality of a fascinating individual who, but for "give me liberty or give me death," has been largely consigned to history by the steady, continuous rise of American Federalism, an ideology against which he fought bitterly. From his country origins, to his missteps as a businessman, to his contributions to the Revolution, to his later years as a lawyer, the author neglects no chapter of Henry's history in an effort to paint a most thorough portrait of a flawed but brilliant mind, unshackled by prejudice, bigotry, or lust for power. In this, he would appear to take a backseat to none of his contemporaries.

However, while Mr. Unger's recount of Henry's life is pleasingly thorough, he almost entirely ignores his subject's family. Occasionally, there are passing references to a son, John, who succumbed to madness during the Revolution, and his wife, Sarah, who suffered grievously in relative isolation while her husband was off creating a country, but these are merely scraps, token nods in the direction of a fuller tapestry. And it's not as though Mr. Unger lacked the room to flesh out the portraits of Patrick Henry's supporting cast. After all, he capitalized on every opportunity to expand upon the man's extraordinary virility. Perhaps a few of these passages could have been assigned to a better cause.

Notwithstanding its single-mindedness, Lion of Liberty is wonderful and readable history. Given the extent to which it restores to the light of day the contributions of a marginalized giant of history, it is worthy work. (4/5 Stars)

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