Finally, in 1760, Patrick Henry embarked on the career that would provide him with the most satisfaction and success. He decided to be a lawyer. A committed reader, Henry dove deeply into the study of law, immersing himself in Coke, Blackstone, and the great jurists and scholars of British common law history.
After considerable study and preparation, Henry (as was the custom) selected his own examiners to recommend him to the Virginia bar. One by one, he was interviewed by Peyton Randolph, John Randolph, Robert Carter Nicholas, and George Wythe. Nicholas and the Randolph brothers signed Henry's license to practice. Wythe showed the carelessly dressed, backwoodsman the door. In the end, he only needed 2 signatures, and so, in spite of Wythe's opposition, Henry was admitted to the bar.
One of his examiners, John Randolph, recalled that Henry displayed little knowledge of municipal law, but became impassioned in discussions of natural law. Randolph believed more study was needed, but the young, red-haired student showed promise.
Three years after being admitted to practice, Henry had handled over a thousand cases. What he lacked in intellectual and legal knowledge, he more than compensated with bravado and eloquence. No doubt his father being a judge also helped his name recognition and credibility.
Henry's experience, however, would pale in significance to the opportunity he was presented with in 1763.
The Church of England was the religious establishment in Virginia. Virginians were required to take communion twice a year, and the colony was compelled to pay the salaries of the Church's ministers. Ministers of other denominations were required to obtain licenses to preach. The Presbyterians agreed to the policy, but the Methodists, Quakers, and Baptists refused to abide by any such restriction. For their principled stand, they were continually harassed by law enforcement officials. And their ministers spent a considerable amount of time in jail.
The Virginia House of Burgesses established, in 1748, a salary of 16,000 pounds of tobacco per year for each Anglican parson in the colony. Vestrymen who did not provide this compensation for their minister were subject to serious penalty. However, the amount of tobacco available each year for salary purposes varied with the weather. In some seasons, the crops were plentiful. In others, the situation was much different.
Responding to the variations of the farm seasons, the Virginia House routinely adjusted the tobacco quotas. There was only one problem with this. A colonial law, once ratified by the King, could only be repealed or amended by the King. Virginia's original quota of 16,000 pounds of tobacco per year is what His Majesty had approved, and that is what the Anglican ministers were officially entitled to, regardless of the weather.
