Live Free or Die

"Live Free or Die" is the official motto of the U.S. state of New Hampshire, adopted by the state in 1945.^[1] It is possibly the best-known of all state mottos, partly because it conveys an assertive independence historically found in American political philosophy and partly because of its contrast to the milder sentiments found in other state mottos.

The phrase was adopted from a toast written by General John Stark, New Hampshire's most famous soldier of the American Revolutionary War, on July 31, 1809. Poor health forced Stark to decline an invitation to an anniversary reunion of the Battle of Bennington. Instead, he sent his toast by letter:^[2]

Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.

By the time Stark wrote this, Vivre Libre ou Mourir ("Live free or die") was a popular motto of the French Revolution.^[3] A possible source of such mottoes is Patrick Henry's famed March 23, 1775, speech to the House of Burgesses (the legislative body of the Virginia colony), which contained the following phrase: "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, give me liberty or give me death!"

The motto was enacted at the same time as the New Hampshire state emblem, on which it appears.^[4]