As we paid tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King last month, I found myself, again, thinking about the impact of words on our lives.

Recently, I came across a fascinating article about Patrick Henry in The Atlantic, part of a broader focus on this year’s 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

Patrick Henry is remembered as the most powerful speaker of that era, hands down, by his fellow founders, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. John Adams declared Henry, “the revolution’s consummate persuader.”

And yet, we don’t actually have Henry's words. He didn’t write his speeches down.

He spoke extemporaneously. People who heard him were so moved that they failed to record what he said, even reporters. What survives instead are secondhand accounts, including descriptions of his voice, his gestures, the way he made people feel what was at stake. One observer … [continue reading...] about Bearing Witness