The taxation began in the 1760s, the Boston Massacre occurred in
1770, the Boston Tea Party in 1773, and the Battles of Lexington
and Concord in April of 1775. Patrick Henry's call to action,
"Give me liberty, or give me death," was the first strong public
statement that, if we were to be free, if we were to have
liberty, then we would have to fight Britain. Prior to Henry's
speech to the gathering of Virginia delegates in Richmond, the
prevailing belief was that we could negotiate with Britain.
Henry lay down the gauntlet and clearly presented his
understanding of what we were facing. Our choice was liberty or
death. Our founders chose to take the challenge and declared our
independence from Britain on July 4, 1776. Our Declaration of
Independence is a three-part document: the first a declaration
of freedom, including our understanding of the natural order of
authority and power; the second a long list of grievances,
reinforcing the belief that there was no choice but to declare
our independence as a free co