Maybe we stay independent, but

John Murray, the Fourth Earl of Dunmore ("Lord Dunmore") was the Royal Governor of New York from 1770-1771 before being promoted to the Royal Governor of Virginia.  Lord Dunmore, who had spent some time in both the Jacobite and English Armies, mostly concentrated on fighting the Shawnee to try and expand Virginian claims to his financial benefit.  However, in order to fund attacks on the Mingo and Shawnee (The Treaty of Fort Stanwix had forbade Iroquois from crossing the Ohio River from the North.  It applied to the Mingo, but it did not apply to the Shawnee, who were Algonquin, but Lord Dunmore determined to try and enforce the Treaty of Fort Stanwix against the Shawnee nevertheless.), Lord Dunmore was required to receive funding from the House of Burgesses.  The House of Burgesses was in session in 1774, when it was announced that Parliament would close the Port of Boston beginning on June 1, 1774, in response to the Boston Tea Party.  Henry created a resolution that set June 1, 1774, as a day of fasting and prayer.  After the resolution passed the House of Burgesses, Lord Dunmore dissolved the House of Burgesses on May 26, 1774.  (It should be noted that the House of Burgesses also wasted time trying to further a dispute with Pennsylvania about where the boundary between those two states.)  Lord Dunmore concentrated on his expedition against the Shawnee, which enabled the House of Burgesses to secretly meet at the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg.  The House of Burgesses elected a full-time President of the Virginia Convention, banned commerce and payment of debts with Britain, and pledged supplies.  The House of Burgesses elected seven men to represent Virginia at the First Continental Congress.  Peyton Randolph, the President of the Virginia Convention, received the most votes.  Henry and George Washington tied for second.  Henry and Washington travelled with a third representative to Philadelphia.  At the First Continental Congress, Henry mostly pushed for proportional representation, i.e. the votes of colonies with more population should receive more weight.  Henry drafted up two different Petitions for the King, but most found Henry's writing to be too extreme at the time and voted to send John Dickinson's Petition to the King instead.  Dickinson had consulted with Henry on his draft.

Lord Dunmore attacked and defeated the Shawnee at the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774.  The Shawnee agreed to the Treaty of Camp Charlotte nine days later.  The Mingo held out for a time thereafter until 240 of Lord Dunmore's men destroyed the Mingo village of Seekunk (present day Columbus, Ohio).  The peace would only hold until 1776, when the Cherokee and Shawnee would ally with Britain against America.  The Mingo would remain mostly peaceful until they sold their lands and migrated to Kansas in 1832.

In the meantime, the political situation had deteriorated.  By December 22, 1774, Lord Dunmore realized that he was a potential target of American attack, concentrated his forces, and retreated back to Williamsburg.

With Williamsburg firmly, at the time, in Lord Dunmore's control, the House of Burgesses met at St. John's in Richmond, Virginia, for the first time on March 20, 1775.  Henry put forth a resolution to arm the Virginia militia shortly thereafter.  After some pushback, Henry gave a speech, which ended with, "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!"  As he concluded the speech, he plunged an ivory paper cutter toward his chest.  Henry's speech convinced the Convention to agree to arm the militia.

On April 20, 1775, Lord Dunmore moved 15 half-barrels of colonial gunpowder (i.e. it was supposed to be for the colony's benefit) into Lord Dunmore's wagon and began to move it toward Williamsburg.  Henry, at the head of a militia, marched to within 16 miles of Williamsburg before Lord Dunmore was able to calm the situation by issuing a promissory note in the amount of the value of the gunpowder.  Lord Dunmore would evacuate Williamsburg for Norfolk on June 8, 1775.  Lord Dunmore fled Norfolk on January 1, 1776, accidentally starting a fire that would burn the city.  Lord Dunmore returned to Britain in July 1776 and would draw his salary as Virginia's Royal Governor until Britain recognized American Independence.  From 1776-1787, Lord Dunmore served in the House of Lords.  From 1787-1796, Dunmore served as the Royal Governor of the Bahamas.  Lord Dunmore would help British Loyalists settle in the Bahamas.  

Henry, meanwhile, attended the Second Continental Congress from May to August 1775.  Henry did not really add anything to the deliberation.  (His wife went insane and died between March 20, 1775, and his return to Virginia.)  Henry was commissioned a colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment in August 1775.  The next month, Virginia's Committee of Safety had placed all Virginia forces under Henry.  Henry was replaced as Commander in Chief of Virginia's military in February 1776.  In April 1776, Henry was again at the Virginia Convention.  He was able to convince the Virginia Convention to both individually declare their independence and to support American Independence unanimously.

Henry helped draft Virginia's Declaration of Rights, which would be used as a jumping off point by Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia.  Henry also helped draft up the Virginia Constitution, although he fought for a more powerful executive because of the war with Britain.  Henry was elected the first Governor of Virginia on June 29, 1776, five days before the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.  Henry was sworn in as governor on July 5, 1776.  After Philadelphia fell, Henry was able to convince the General Assembly to give him expanded powers.  Henry was reelected governor in 1777.  Henry sent food to Valley Forge.  Henry almost always unflinchingly supported Washington during the Revolution and helped tip off Washington to the Conway Cabal, which helped Washington maintain his office as Commander in Chief.  Henry sent George Rogers Clark to take Kaskaskia in present-day Illinois.  Clark captured Kaskaskia, and the victory was a big help to America's claim to all land East of the Mississippi River.  Henry was elected for a third term as Governor on May 29, 1778.  In December 1778, Henry asked for assistance in protecting Chesapeake Bay.  From May 8-24, 1779, the British entered the bay and took Portsmouth and Suffolk, destroying Virginia's supplies.  Henry left office thereafter.  

Henry was elected to the Continental Congress thereafter but did not accept the appointment, instead serving as a Delegate in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1779-1784.  For a couple of months in 1780, Henry helped Virginia troops battle Loyalists.

Benedict Arnold invaded in January 1781 and captured Richmond, which had become the capital of Virginia in 1780.  The Virginia government moved to Charlottesville.  Banastre Tarleton subsequently raided Charlottesville, and most of the Virginia government escaped to Staunton.  Governor Thomas Jefferson, however, took refuge in Bedford County, instead, leaving Virginia without an executive for 10 days.  Henry was one of the leaders of a group who called for an inquiry into Jefferson's conduct, and Jefferson would hold a grudge with Henry until at least 1824, 25 years after Henry's death.

Henry was the primary sponsor of bills to reopen trade with Britain in May 1783 and to allow Loyalists to return in November 1783, which both passed.  Henry fought against James Madison's separation between church and state bill and had his own bill that almost passed.  But Henry was elected governor in 1784.  Madison was able to withdraw both bills and would instead push through Jefferson's Statute for Religious Freedom passed through in 1786.  Henry served as governor from 1784-1786.

Henry was asked to go to the Constitutional Convention but declined stating later that he "smelt a rat."  After reading the Constitution, he worked to fight against it.  His arguments were primarily that the President was too powerful and that there was no provision for how the size of the House of Representatives would increase.  He also thought that amendments were too difficult to pass and that states had too little power.  He generally disliked the North for multiple reasons before and during the Revolution and because of issues related to the Jay-Gardoqui Treaty.  He also thought that a lot of the reasons people were advocating for a Federal government were illusory, namely that the people had more to fear from a strong federal government than from a foreign power.  He also advocated for a strong Confederacy like the ones that existed in Holland and Switzerland at the time.  

Virginia ratified the Constitution on June 25, 1788.  Nevertheless, Virginia did so with 40 proposed amendments, almost all of which Henry supported.  George Mason wanted to do more to fight ratification, but, after the vote, Henry convinced Mason that democracy had won and that they had to accept the result.  Henry was able to stop Madison from being one of Virginia's first Senators.  Henry had also helped draw the maps for the first House of Representatives elections.  However, despite that, Madison was able to defeat James Monroe in Virginia 5.  Henry was a presidential elector from Virginia in the 1789.  He voted for Washington and Adams.

In 1790, Henry worked to get the House of Delegates to issue an official protest to Alexander Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison's Compromise of 1790.  Henry and the House of Delegates asserted that the assumption of state debts was unconstitutional.

Henry exited politics in 1790.  George Washington tried to appoint him to the Supreme Court or to serve as Secretary of State (to replace Jefferson) or to serve as minister to Spain.  Additionally, Governor "Light-Horse" Harry Lee, who Henry had helped to become a Senator in 1789, wanted to appoint Henry to the Senate.  There was also a push for Henry to run for President, but he thought himself too old and declined that, too.

Henry, a strong friend of Washington, generally supported the Federalists but disagreed with Adams' Alien and Sedition Acts.  He had worked as a lawyer with a young John Marshall, who would wind up being Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and helped Marshall become a Representative in the House of Representatives.

Adams tried to appoint Henry to serve as Minister to France but Henry declined.  Because of the flagging popularity of the Federalist Party and the infighting between Adams and Hamilton, the Federalists were finally able to convince Henry to run again as a Delegate in the House of Delegates.  However, he grew sick and died before he was able to take office.  

Henry was often derided for failing to foresee the general calamity that was the War of 1812.  Henry was further derided for providing talking points, which were picked up and amplified by anti-Constitution Southerners begin with South Carolina Nullification Crisis and continuing through Reconstruction and beyond.

I’ve come around to the fact that being a part of a conference is our most “sustainable” option moving forward. With that being said, I’m terrified of what being in a weak G5 baseball conference will do to our brand, fan passion, and most importantly, recruiting.

In football, being G5 really didn’t change recruiting at all. We already ranked around 60-70 in recruiting national rankings every year, never won our conference, and never competed for national titles. In baseball, we competed for conference titles consistently since 2005, won 3 national titles, and routinely recruited with the top programs in the country. In my opinion, there is absolutely no way we remain elite if recruiting drops 20, 30, 40 spots in the national rankings.

Even though it’s our most “sustainable” option, I’m really uneasy about what might happen to our baseball program over the next 5-10 years.

You're welcome for the nap.

I hate big paragraphs in a Complaint.  Break it up! 

For your standard Benny's House post, though, well, you know what they say about a guy with big paragraphs, right?