Patrick Henry was one of the most admired leaders of the American Revolution, considered by contemporaries as an indispensible instigator of revolution. He is remembered best for his passionate speeches calling his countrymen to defense of liberty against what he saw as British oppression. Both contemporary and modern observers have noted that Henry’s style tended to mimic that of the “New Light” evangelical ministers who were making progress against Virginia’s established Anglican Church in the mid-eighteenth century. Unfortunately, Henry does not enjoy the reputation that he probably deserves as a Founding Father for two reasons. First, since Henry’s greatest influence was in his dramatic oratory and his speeches were at best imperfectly recorded—and by all accounts even a full transcript could not do justice to his eloquence—the warp and woof of his contribution began to dissipate with his words. Second, and perhaps even more important, when the Philadelphia Convention drafted the Constitution in 1787 to address growing fiscal and administrative problems under the Articles of Confederation, Henry opposed the Constitution in its excessive concentration of power (declaring, so it is said, that he refused a seat in the Convention because “I smelt a rat”). He never served in a national office under the Constitution, although he was offered a position in George Washington’s cabinet and on the Supreme Court. With the new nation’s success, Henry’s opposition seemed anachronistic. Yet, even in this role, his contribution was significant, with the opposition of Henry and others to the new Constitution playing a key part in encouraging adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791.