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Rhetorical Analysis Of Give Me Death By Patrick Henry

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Taxation without representation is a motto our country was founded on and it fueled what was arguably one of the most critical speech in political history, Patrick Henry’s Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death. Henry used his political passion and voice to convince powerful politicians by talking to them as their peer that England was violating its citizen’s rights, and if specific measures were not taken, like forming a militia, the colonies would face imminent danger. Henry’s speech was so successful because he crafted it specifically with his audience in mind. His knowledge of the distinguished men at the Second Virginia Convention allowed him to create a speech that he knew would and did have a great impact. Overall he appeals to their religious …show more content…

He is also especially careful to state the prior and possible faults of their government without sounding as if he is complaining by carefully noting that the decision not to act will negatively hurt everyone, not just himself. He addresses what he believes is a false notion that England could be militarizing against another government when he asks the rhetorical question “Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us.” He wants people to look at England’s behavior as what it really is, an act of war that they must promptly respond to. To those who are weary of going to war and wish to seek a different route he explains “We have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated, have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne” (Henry 2) While hope is important he implies it is foolish to hope for a resolution to this particular problem that does not include war, and at this point war is both inevitable and

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