Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Some Things Never Change

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by

Dick Hall-Sizemore
in ,

I am reading a recent biography of Patrick Henry and I came across a quote that just begs to be shared on this blog. One of Henry’s neighbors and friends in 1759 was Thomas Johnson, a member of the House of Burgesses from Louisa County. In the journal of the House, Johnson is recorded as describing the General Assembly as a place of “Plots, Schemes, and Contrivances” where “one holds the Lamb while the other skins.”

Don Rippert, with his criticism of the “plantation elite,” and Thomas Johnson would have gotten along quite well together.

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18 responses to “Some Things Never Change”

  1. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    The thing that never changes is… human nature.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      If that were the case, there’d have been no Civil War.

  2. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    Thank you, Dick. I shall seek a portrait of Thomas Johnson for my wall!

  3. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    Mr. Henry represented the vestry headed by Thomas Johnson in the famous Parson’s Cause case at the Hanover Courthouse. Thus, launching Henry’s famous career. It did help that Patrick’s daddy was the judge and pre-loaded the jury. Still the clergy won the case but awarded Reverend Maury only one penny for the back wages he sought. Johnson’s house is a brick one right on Main Street in Louisa.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/db13750e89d073e365ed30cae1962385f59f147ce840de538d8a6d29dd82b7fb.jpg

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Of course, Patrick’s uncle, also named Patrick Henry, was the rector of Hanover’s Anglican parish, so he could have been swayed that way.

      The biographer, Jon Kukla, implies that the sheriff was the one who picked the jury, not the judge. According to him, “[Rev] Maury claimed that the sheriff stacked the jury against him by excluding gentlemen and recruiting jurymen ‘among the vulgar herd’.

      1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        Kukla is impressive. He should know too. He ran Red Hill for a while. I have A Son of Thunder by John Mayer. It is so good. Great story telling. Yet fact and fiction are separated, but still included. I liked that part. You could really see Henry as viewed in his times. One of my all time favorite Virginians. I always considered Patrick Henry the first Jacksonian.

  4. Rafaelo Avatar
    Rafaelo

    Yeah, but the Woke will cancel Patrick Henry too.

    “Give me liberty or give me death,” had a footnote: “I am the master of slaves of my own purchase. I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living here without them. I will not, I cannot justify it.”
    from Wikipedia, citing Kukla, Jon (2017)Patrick Henry: Champion of Liberty.

    Is a self-acknowledged hypocrite better or worse than a regular one? Both Jefferson and Patrick Henry tried gradually to eliminate slavery with legislation forbidding imports. Which only made existing slaves more valuable.

    History as a cautionary tale: the best intentions seldom prevail against economic reality. Before Nancy Naïve gets on her high horse let’s ask if she is still destroying the planet driving to the grocery store, rather than riding a more ecological horse?

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Neither Jefferson nor Henry have been “cancelled”. The idea that when we tell an honest history we are “cancelling” is thinking from folks who prefer mythology to history.

      1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        What do you call the name change of the community college?

    2. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Neither Jefferson nor Henry have been “cancelled”. The idea that when we tell an honest history we are “cancelling” is thinking from folks who prefer mythology to history.

    3. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      Neither Jefferson nor Henry would have appreciated you referring to them in the same sentence. They detested each other. Their falling out was epic.

    4. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      Neither Jefferson nor Henry would have appreciated you referring to them in the same sentence. They detested each other. Their falling out was epic.

    5. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      On the other hand, “He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day” is far less suicidal.

  5. john harvie Avatar
    john harvie

    Clever as Hell…

  6. Lefty665 Avatar
    Lefty665

    If Johnson was a neighbor of Henry’s in the late 1750s, he would have been living in Hanover, not Louisa. At the time Henry likely would have been living at Hanover Tavern after the house burned at Pine Slash farm further east. Sorry I’ve gotten a little fuzzy on my Henry history, but I am sure that the town of Louisa was a quite a ride from Hanover Tavern in those days. Today it is still a solid hour+ by car.

    Personal note, my wife and I were married in the old Hanover Courthouse. We could almost feel Henry looking over our shoulders during the ceremony. If the painting is correct he would have been orating from close behind where we stood.

    FWIW, it is also my understanding that it was the Sheriff who picked the jury in the Parson’s Cause trial.

    1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      The parish in the case covered Hanover and Louisa Counties. I don’t remember the details but trial in Hanover had something to do with the seat of the parish.

      1. Lefty665 Avatar
        Lefty665

        Big parish, and thinly settled back then in Louisa and western Hanover.

      2. Lefty665 Avatar
        Lefty665

        Big parish, and thinly settled back then in Louisa and western Hanover.

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