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Patrick Henry's Autobiography: The Declaration Of Independence

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On March 23, 1775 , Patrick Henry expressed his opinion to the Virginia Convention during a crisis in the American Colonies. The worriment was that of the colonies relationship with its mother country, Great Britain and its King. The colonies are in a position of war with Britain and they are at the crossroads of war and surrender. The Virginia Convention was a political meeting during this era of the American Revolution, in this case Patrick Henry delivered a speech to them. Patrick Henry skillfully applied strategies such as logos, pathos, and diction to express an ominous tone that implicates war with the abusive Britain that forced colonist into a desperate situation and urges the colonies to cooperate in the fight. This speech echoed much later …show more content…

As seen in The Autobiography: The Declaration of Independence the colonies of America have banded together to fight for independence from Britain and formally stated it. The leaders and representatives of the colonies have sacrificed personal interest to ensure they would have a common cause. Controversial subjects, such as slavery, were cut out from the Declaration to insure that all colonies would follow the call of war that Patrick Henry had immortalized the year before with the statement “ give me liberty, or give me death”(Henry 83) . Patrick’s speech inspired the perturbed politicians attending the Virginia Conference to take up arms to protect against the inevitable war against the abusive and subjugating British. Utilizing a unique choice of words and phrases he created an ominous feeling and that urged the desperate colonist to prepare themselves. In addition, Henry took advantage of logos and pathos to create a sense of unity between the politicians that encouraged a central idea. The central idea that Henry had referred to manifested itself later in the Declaration of Independence nearly 1 year

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