A set phrase indicating stark and unyielding refusal to submit to authoritarian measures or domination. The phrase is attributed to American politician Patrick Henry
(1736–1799) from a speech he made to the Virginia Convention in 1775, calling for Virginian troopsto assist in the Revolutionary War. Any number of alternative nouns can be used inplace of "liberty" as a means of humorously or hyperbolically highlighting one's extreme reluctance to part with it.The government thinks it can censor our media, monitor our communicationsand tax us to starvation without us putting up a fight. Well, I say to them, give me liberty, or give me death!Give me bacon or give me death!