Analysis Of Patrick Henry's Revolutionary Speech

Rhetorical strategies are a necessity for persuasion. Patrick Henry demonstrates this notion in his speech to the Virginia Convention. Henry’s rhetorical strategies of rhetorical questioning and refuting opposing arguments supports his argument that America must go to war with Britain. One of Henry’s main assertions is that the British are already preparing for war with the colonies. By asking the delegates of the Virginia Convention if “fleets and armies” are “necessary to a work of love and reconciliation,” Henry questions the British’s motives (Henry).

In the years leading up to the American Revolution, there was a tense relationship between the colonists and their British rulers. Large gatherings in the colonies to discuss the grievances caused by the actions of the British were common. Patrick Henry applies the rhetorical strategies of allusions and repetition in his “Speech in the Virginia Convention” to assert that the colonists should believe fighting for their freedom and rights is necessary and that they must fight as soon as possible. Although Henry has rather radical beliefs in comparison to the other members of the Convention, he connects with them through religious and literary allusions that are able to convince them of his assertions. In his speech, Henry alludes to

Delegate and lawyer Patrick Henry rallies up the other delegates in his "Speech to the Virginia Convention". Henry fills the colonists' minds with imagery and powerful syntax to convince the members to fight in a war later named the American Revolution. His patriotic and zealous speech uses a variety of rhetorical devices to convey this sense of desperation that this is the last hope: to fight. He begins by building his ethos and displays his counterargument.

In Thomas Jefferson’s “Declaration of Independence,” he uses rhetorical devices to convey his purpose which is to say that colonies have decided to break their bond with the King and Great Britain and to explain their reasoning. One of the devices used the most to convey his purpose was parallelism. Jefferson also uses repetition to make his reasons clear. Some might think that his use of restatement further makes his points clear; however, they are wrong. Jefferson uses rhetorical devices like parallelism and repetition to explain the reasonings of the Colonists decision to break their bonds with the King and Britain.

“It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to god and our country” (Henry) during the time the speech was written, the colonist were trying to be separate from Britain. People wanted out of British laws, but had fear of fighting war. The colonist struggled with no money for an army nor the support to create one. In Patrick Henry’s, “Speech to Virginia convention ” he primarily used pathos to persuade the audience to stand up and fight.

Speech of the Great The Revolutionary War a time of conflict and persuasion, trying to change the outcome Partick Henry writes the “Speech to The Virginia Convention”. Right before the Revolutionary War in the year 1775 Patrick Henry wrote a speech to the president to try and persuade to go to war but to do it in the right way. Henry uses ethos to hit the president’s emotion by talking about how in the past British hasn’t always had their side and they could easily play them, he also uses ethos by using analogies on what the outcome could be. It’s important for Patrick Henry to persuade the colonist to go to war because he wants them to realize that British isn’t always going to be on our side.

Patrick Henry’s speech to the Convention of Delegates in Virginia was a powerful speech given with the intent to convince the Colonies to unite and fight against the tyranny of the British. The final part of his speech seen in the above excerpt fits well into the overall structure of his speech because it appeals to pathos by using a lot of emotional diction to show the listening audience that their only way to gain freedom was war. When he states, “...but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” he is not only making the audience feel his strong emotions, but convincing them that the cause for liberty is a life or death matter, and the only way to gain the liberty that they absolutely need for survival is to fight. This excerpt ends his speech well because it leaves the audience feeling a variety of emotions, including anger and patriotism, which makes it effective towards Henry’s cause.

In the 1700’s the British ruled the 13 colonies and the people of the colonies were in unrest by the British but no one wanted to take action in fear of the British. At the Virginia Convention, on 20 March 1775, great minds of the colony were deciding whether to take action. Patrick Henry persuaded the people of the Virginia Convention to take up arms and fight against the British to win their freedom and independence. He showed how powerful Pathos was by using it in his speech to heavily sway the hearts and minds of the members which persuaded them to fight against the British. “It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope.

Patrick Henry’s 1775 speech at the second Virginia Convention, commonly referred to as “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!” in reference to a famous quote lifted from the speech itself, masterfully reflects the requirement for revolution the United States of America had during the time period. The speech not only stands as an emblem of the American Revolution, but as a call-to-arms against any tyranny men that would rear its head anywhere in history, whether this long-term outcome was intended or otherwise. The effectiveness Henry displayed in rallying his peers is certainly inspirational, and his capability cannot be understated. This capability can be attributed to many different factors.

Thomas Paine wrote a series of articles known collectively as "The Crisis" to support his argument for independence from England during the Revolutionary War. Thomas Paine 's reasoning for writing this collection of articles is rather sound. The call to arms in this document calls “tens of thousands” to arms to battle Great Britain and their unfair rule over their country. Paine was justified in his writing, the unfair rule of the British government did need to be “called out” sort of speak.

I have decided to re-enlist for three reasons which are: Hope, the army needs me, and for my family and the hope of surviving. The event that caused this whole war to occur were the protesting and the Boston Tea party that happened in 1773. I felt that the Boston Tea Party was a right and wrong decision when it happened because we should not use violence to cooperate with our “enemies”, we should use reason. Even though the British kind of deserved that protest.

War Hawks were the main demographic in Congress that wanted war for a variation of reasons. They brought up a possibly to expand the United States’ territory as they wanted to take over Florida from Spain and Canada from the British. The War Hawks were into the idea of nationalism as they had a very prideful of their country. As such, they wanted to have retribution for the capture of American ships, seeing it as an insult to America’s rights. Others such as John Randolph of Virginia, were against the War Hawk’s ideology.

The Movement Begins If America did not have Thomas Paine where would we be? It was a brutal fight against the British when Thomas Paine wrote his pamphlets “ Crisis No. 1”. They needed a push to get inspiration to start understanding more about the fight for their independence in which he gave that to the colonist. Thomas Paine use of pathos was the best persuasive technique to persuade the colonist.

Document B was from a Pennsylvania newspaper, and it called for the Americans to fight harder to expel the British from the Americas. The author wanted to politically separate America from Britain and pleaded for the American people to make this political change. After the war officially ended with signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, people started to realize that there were issues with the Articles of Confederation. In the next few years many people argued how to fix these issues and how the country should grow. Document G illustrated some of these problems.

Paine also wrote other works to motivate and ignite the colonial soldiers to keep fighting for the freedom of America. Paine’s works show and enhance the need for a new political system other than that of Great