Yesterday on this Blog, I told a little about how both Benjamin Franklin and his compatriot, Thomas Jefferson, were both very intellectual men and both of them were involved in new inventions. I hope you enjoyed learning about that.

One of my other heroes, and Founding Fathers, Patrick Henry, was also an inventor of sorts. Patrick served for a while in his youth as a “bartender” at his father’s General Mercantile Store and Country Inn. He didn’t like it much. He saw first hand how much damage liquor did to the common man. Some people he served lost their money, their families, their wives, their homes, and even their lives to that vile habit—drinking.

He then noticed the seemingly increase in drunkenness during the hard times of the Revolutionary War. He was appalled. He decided to do something about it.

So during the Revolutionary War, when Patrick Henry was elected as the new State of Virginia’s first Governor, and he moved into the Governor’s Palace at Williamsburg, he prohibited liquor at the mansion. Instead he invented, or at least concocted a non-alcoholic barley drink, sort of similar to Root Beer, which was then served in the Mansion. And in his household thereafter.

Of course, you’ll remember that Patrick Henry stayed home from the second Continental Congress, where his friend, Thomas Jefferson, wrote that immortal document, The Declaration of Independence (which we have just recently celebrated)!

Henry was elected to go, but stayed home to make sure the Colony of Virginia would have a new state Constitution, when Independence would be declared. He did, and it was. Richard Henry Lee, a fellow countryman, made the formal Resolution calling for Independence from Great Britain.

Patrick Henry helped write the new State Constitution, and it went into effect with his election as Virginia’s first governor on July 5, 1776. Yes, that’s right, July 5, 1776! How about that?