History Main / GiveMeLibertyOrGiveMeDeath

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/{{Catseye}}'', after their escape, the cat observes they were told they would die if they did, but they are still alive. They agree to stay with Troy after questioning him to discern that he can't actually control them, he can only talk.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein visits this territory many times, particularly in ''Literature/SixthColumn'', ''Literature/ThePuppetMasters'' and "If This Goes On--".

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein visits this territory many times, particularly in ''Literature/TheSixthColumn'', ''Literature/ThePuppetMasters'' and "If This Goes On--".

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein visits this territory many times, particularly in ''The Fifth Column, The Puppet Masters'' and ''"If This Goes On-".''
---> They cannot tame a free man. The most they can do is kill him.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames''

* And of course, those tiny blue ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' William Wallace stand-ins, the Nac Mac Feegle. "Nae king! Nae Quin! Nae Laird! Nae master! We willna be fooled again!"
** Of course, they also think they're dead and in warrior paradise, so their views on getting killed are a little unique.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Spoofed in ''Webcomic/DubiousCompany'', where a village revolts against the EvilOverlord, declaring this. After getting [[CurbstompBattle stomped]] by [[MeaningfulName Mary and Sue]], they [[DefeatMeansFriendship renounce]] the revolt as if it never happened. This confuses Tiren to no end.
[[/folder]]

* In AndreNorton's ''Literature/IceCrown'', as Roane reveals what the Psychocrats have done, Nelis concludes that the terrible risks of breaking the MindControlDevice affecting the entire planet is worth it for freedom from their conditioning.
* In AndreNorton's ''Literature/{{Catseye}}'', after their escape, the cat observes they were told they would die if they did, but they are still alive. They agree to stay with Troy after questioning him to discern that he can't actually control them, he can only talk.

** An interesting subtrope: in that same Revolution, the British government promised freedom to any colonial slave who ran away and joined the loyalist army. Thousands (including a few of Henry's own slaves) did, evidently preferring the risk of death on the battlefield to the certainty of a life in chains if the colonists won independence. When that happened, most of them fled to Canada, where they formed Black Loyalist communities, mostly in the province of Nova Scotia.

** An interesting subtrope: in that same Revolution, the British government promised freedom to any colonial slave who ran away and joined the loyalist army. Thousands (including a few of Henry's own slaves) did, evidently preferring the risk of death on the battlefield to the certainty of a life in chains if the colonists won independence.

* UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution invoked this repeatedly. The Jacobin motto was "Vivre libre ou mourir" ("Live free or die")/ "La Liberte ou la mort" ("Liberty or Death") and the motto of the National Convention during the ReignOfTerror, "Unité, Indivisibilité de la République; Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité ou la mort".
** During the famous instance of the Glorious First of June, where French ships engaged the English so that a vital convoy of food imports reached France, French sailors engaged the English in an action before being crushed. The sailors chose to drown instead of being captured, shouting "Vive le Republique" with their dying breaths.

** Another instance was that of Louis Delgrès, a Mulatto Revolutionary in Guadeloupe who in 1802 started a slave rebellion against the expeditionary forces sent by Napoleon to bring slavery back to the colonies (after the National Convention had abolished it). Delgres and his allies, 300 of them, committed mass suicide by igniting stocks of gunpowder rather than surrender. In 1998, Delgres' sacrifice and struggle was recognised and honored by the French Pantheon.

* Shows up in Part III of ''ComicBook/CartoonHistoryOfTheUniverse'', in the bit about the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanj_Rebellion Zanj Rebellion]]. "Zanj" was a term for East African slaves (bought from their native rulers in what is now Kenya and Tanzania) who were employed in southern Iraq's production of sugarcane. They rose in revolt against the Arab, Persian, and Turkish rulers of the Abbasid Caliphate, and (as Gonick notes) fought ferociously for their freedom (primarily because the alternative was death). It's specifically brought up in this panel:

* Spoofed in DubiousCompany, where a village revolts against the EvilOverlord, declaring this. After getting [[CurbstompBattle stomped]] by [[MeaningfulName Mary and Sue]], they [[DefeatMeansFriendship renounce]] the revolt as if it never happened. This confuses Tiren to no end.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Scion}},'' when the Raven and Heron kingdoms invade the [[SlaveRace Lesser Races]]' Sanctuary island, Exeter makes it clear that he's willing to die defending it, which leads to his CrowningMomentofAwesome:

** Likewise during the French Revolution, their slave run colonies heard some of that fancy Republican rhetoric and decided they wanted in. This led to a SlaveRebellion in Haiti, the only nation founded by a successful slave rebellion. The National Convention acknowledged the rebellion until UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte destroyed the Republic and reinstated slavery, and captured the great Toussaint Louverture during a peace negotiation. The people of Haiti rose up in Rebellion and repelled the French, forcing Napoleon to abandon all of France's New World colonies.

* Haiti might be the only country that started with a successful slave rebellion. Unfortunately, it lacked the leadership that could have made it a successful nation afterward.

* Shows up in ''TheCartoonHistoryOfTheUniverse, Part III'', in the bit about the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanj_Rebellion Zanj Rebellion]]. "Zanj" was a term for East African slaves (bought from their native rulers in what is now Kenya and Tanzania) who were employed in southern Iraq's production of sugarcane. They rose in revolt against the Arab, Persian, and Turkish rulers of the Abbasid Caliphate, and (as Gonick notes) fought ferociously for their freedom (primarily because the alternative was death). It's specifically brought up in this panel:

* Trope name comes from Patrick Henry, a melodramatic patriot in TheAmericanRevolution.

** TheAmericanCivilWar was an ironic twist on this for the South. They wanted freedom ... the freedom to keep slaves.

* The [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch Free]] [[SlaveRace Jaffa]] of ''{{Stargate SG-1}}''. The [[TheBigGuy principal Jaffa character]] is also the TropeNamer for IDieFree.

*** A guarantee of escape from chattel slavery sounds like a pretty damn good deal to me.