I DEMAND DEATH

By Fulton Sheen

My hands are wet with blood. They are crimsoned with the blood of a man I have just killed. I have
come here today to confess. I have committed murder, deliberate, premeditated murder. I have
killed a man in cold blood. That man is my master. I am here not to ask for pity but for justice.
Simple, elementary justice. I am a tenant… My father was a tenant before me and so was his father
before him. This misery is my inheritance and perhaps this will be my legacy to my children. I have
labored on a patch of land not mine. But I have learned to love that land, for it is the only thing that
lies between me and complete destitution. It is the only world that I have learned to cherish. And
somewhere on that land I have managed to build what is now the dilapidated nipa shack that has
been home to me. I have but a few world possessions, mostly rags. My debts are heavy. They are
sum total of my ignorance and the inspired arithmetic of my master, which I do not understand. I
labor like a slave and out of the fruits of that labor I get but a mere pittance for a share. And I have
to stretch that mere pittance to keep myself and my family alive. My poverty has reduced me to the
bare necessities of life. And the constant fear of rejection from the land has made me totally
subservient to my master. You tell me that under the constitution, I am a free man-free to do what I
believe is just, free to do what I think is right, and free to worship God according to the dictate of my
conscience. But I do not understand the meaning of all these for I have never known freedom. I have
always obeyed the wishes of my master out of fear. I have always regarded myself as no better than
a slave to the man who owns the land on which I live. I do not ask you to forgive me nor to mitigate
my crime. I have taken the law into my own hands, and I must pay for it in atonement. But kill this
system. Kill this system and you kill despotism. Kill this system and you kill slavery. Kill this despotism
and you set the human soul to liberty and freedom. Kill this slavery and you release the human spirit
into happiness and contentment. For the cause of human liberty, of human happiness and
contentment, thousands and even millions have died and will continue to die. Mine is only one life.
Take me if you must but let it be a sacrifice to the cause which countless others have been given
before and will be given again and again, until the oppressive economic system has completely
perished, until the sons of toil have been liberated from enslavement, and until man has been fully
restored to decency and self-respect. My dear friend: I do anguish from the weak and helpless and
has laid upon the back of the ignorant labor burdens that are too heavy to be borne, I demand
death! To this callous system of exploitation that has tightened the fetters of perpetual bondage in
the hands of thousands, and has killed the spirit of freedom in the hearts of men, I demand death.
To this oppression that has denied liberty to the free and unbounded children of God, I DEMAND
DEATH!
 GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH
By Patrick Henry

Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We
have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before
the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and
Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence
and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt,
from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and
reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve
inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not
basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have
pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we
must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left
us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when
shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally
disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by
irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our
backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and
foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath
placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country
as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides,
sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of
nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong
alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base
enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission
and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is
inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter.
Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war has actually begun! The next gale
that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are
already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they
have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid
it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, ask for me sir…. GIVE ME
LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!