On March 23, 1775, the phrase "Liberty or Death" was used for the first time. It was uttered by Patrick Henry, a politician and governor of Virginia, during the American War of Independence, notes dariknews.bg.
In the same year, 1775, the slogan "Liberty or Death" also appeared on a flag from Virginia.
"Liberty or Death" is a revolutionary motto, later used in the national liberation struggles in the Balkans. During the Greek War of Independence in 1820, the Greek revolutionaries used the motto as a battle cry. After its liberation, the Greek state even adopted it as its state motto, and the 9 white and blue stripes on the national flag of Greece symbolize each of the nine syllables of the national motto.
The Bulgarian rebels also used the motto “Freedom or Death” on their flags in the April Uprising. The Internal Macedonian-Adriatic Revolutionary Organization, established in 1893, also adopted “Freedom or Death” for the main motto, which was used for the seals, flags and both newspapers of VMORO and VMRO - “Freedom or Death”, published by Peyo Yavorov in 1903, and “Freedom or Death”, published from 1924 to 1934.
A curious fact is that the motto of those against whom the Bulgarians rebelled was similar - during the war of independence 1919-1923, the Turkish resistance movement raised the slogan Ya istiklal ya olum (“Independence or Death”).