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Rhetorical Analysis Of Patrick Henry Persuasive Speech

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“ Give me liberty or give me death”,( Patrick Henry). The most well known speech given by the prestigious Patrick Henry on March 23, 1775 expressing his thoughts and feelings about fighting back against Britain and protecting their beloved country. At this time the British was defeating America terribly which had made Patrick Henry feel as though his freedom was being jeopardized. Patrick Henry’s speech was an attempt to persuade the american citizens not to just sit and do nothing, he wanted to fight back against Britain. Patrick Henry felt as though many of the citizens were not aware of the seriousness of what was happening and that the needed to have a wake up call. Patrick Henry's speech was to connect to the audience and show then exactly how serious this issue is and he did that by using a lot of emotion. The most effective persuasive technique that Patrick Henry used in his famous “ Speech to the Virginia Convention” is pathos because it was used sufficiency throughout his speech. It was important for Patrick Henry to persuade the colonist because he felt like their freedom was at stake and there was not much being done about it. The persuasive technique was used when asking whether staying peaceful and not fighting is worth getting our freedom taken away. “ Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!”,( ). Patrick Henry is trying to appeal to their emotions by asking if they would rather be enslaved with no freedom than have the courage to fight …show more content…

Patrick use the audience sense of rage and fear to persuade them to fight against the British heavily using loaded words and relating to their religious side. “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”, (Patrick

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