Patrick Henry Speech Logos

As generations grew up in America, nationalism within the colonies grew towards their new country. These settlers slowly lost their patriotic tie to Great Britain and it’s ruler, King George III. So when the French and Indian War ended in America, and the indebted England needed some compensation from American settlers in the form of taxes, the colonists questioned the authority of England and their ability to rule them. British imperial policies such as the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Townshend Tea Tax caused uproar within the colonies against British rule without

Patrick Henry uses pathos in order to enact a feeling of pride from the colonists. Consequently, he is able to make colonists surrender their trust towards the British by using pathos in his speech. This is accomplished by him saying, “Trust it not ,sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer

Throughout the entire speech, he creates emotion that affects the audience. He created emotion throughout the speech by using other rhetorical strategies, such as repetition, imagery, rhetorical questions, and allusions. By using repetition, he made the audience feel some guilt. In the repetition “Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves” creates the guilt-feeling towards the audience, because if Henry were right about Great Britain, then the audience would be in fault for not going to war with Great Britain. By using imagery, the images of an “insidious smile”, “delusive phantoms of hope”, and slavery and chains, creates an unpleasant image to the mind making the audience feel angry, empty, and fearful. Henry uses many rhetorical questions. The use of the rhetorical questions is a question that can only be answered with one right answer. This is because the question being asked is the truth. Sometimes the truth can be hard to hear and accept. As Henry asks these questions, “But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?” he evokes fear towards the audience and perhaps anger. He also uses biblical allusions in the speech. He does this to create some credibility but also to provoke some trust from the audience. When Henry mentions God or the biblical allusion it comforted or delighted the audience to know that God is a role in his speech. Although Henry uses repetition, imagery, rhetorical questions, and allusions, he incorporated emotion to those three other rhetorical strategies used.

Pathos are used to create an emotional attachment to the cause between the audience, the colonists, so they agree with Henry on going to the war with Britain. “Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense?” (Henry 3) This uses pathos to get the readers to think about why we are holding back going to war. As one can see, using pathos in a speech can enhance the audience’s passion and relatability. Furthermore, Pathos accurately aided Henry in grabbing the audience's attention and come off as well mannered and credible. “The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery” (Henry 2) This quote grabbed the audience's attention by making them critically think about the choices they must decide on the subject of going to war with Britain. This quote assists the colonists to agree with him, seeing that the audience feels further spirited and motivated towards going to war. Since this statement undeniably made them question the subject and feel connected to the cause knowing that no colonist would want to be enslaved, the answer to his question would be freedom, speaking on behalf of most, if not all of the colonists. So, how does one get freedom? Simply by

Henry is asking his audience if they would rather live a peaceful life of slavery or a life of freedom on their own terms. This rhetorical question is impactful because Henry”s audience is afraid of slavery, they don’t like the idea of being controlled by anyone. They know what the lives of their own slaves are like and they fear being put in that position. This makes the audience want to heed Henry's advice and go to war against Great Britain.

Through the use of the image of slavery, Henry managed to paint a clear picture of how the situation was, therefore, making it easier for him to emphasize the need for America’s independence. Also, Henry uses a change in the volume of his voice in his video speech to appeal to the emotions of his fellow delegates. Henry begins his speech in a normal tone of voice, but throughout the video, his voice gradually gets louder with time, and in the end, he shouts his concluding line, “give me liberty, or give me death!”[4] This gradual volume change in Henry’s voice enabled him to appeal to the feelings of his audience effectively, and eventually emphasize on his message of fighting for liberty.

On March 23rd, 1775, Patrick Henry delivered his Speech to the Virginia Convention. This speech becomes one of the most famous speeches in American Oratory. His audience were white men, that owned slaves and land, were wealthy, and men that received advanced education, compared to most men at that time. Considering all of these factors, Henry uses kinds of logic and emotion that appealed to them. In the Convention, Following a discussion about negotiating with the British, Henry presents a counter argument, saying that the colonists should fight against the British. Patrick Henry uses a variety of literary devices in his speech to defend his point, and convince the audience about his argument. The most significant literary device used by Henry

Henry includes a passionate pathos appeal in his speech to fill the audience with much passion and emotion to make them want to join his fight. Towards the end of his writing, Henry states, “There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come!” (Henry 6). This piece of the speech uses a significant amount of emotionally charged language, as well as, emotionally charged punctuation. Through the immense amount of emotionally charged language and punctuation, these statements easily display a pathos appeal. Henry displays this information to ensure his audience knows that these unjust British actions are not going away. He also is including these statements, so that the audience knows that the British are preparing for war, and if the colonists do not prepare, then then Britain is simply going to crush them and going to make matters even worse. At the end of the speech, Henry mentions, “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!” (Henry 7). These statements easily display many emotionally charged words, along with a few emotional punctuations that show the use of the pathos appeal. Henry mentions this in his

Henry first displayed ethos by respecting opposing viewpoints among the hostile crowd in the House of Burgesses. He states, “But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope that it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve” (Henry 226). Patrick Henry recognizes the magnanimity of the situation at hand and is cautious towards the emotions that he could evoke from his hostile audience. To disarm the crowd and ease them into his speech, Henry displays respect towards the other arguments and gains a similar respect and attention towards his own argument in

Furthermore, Henry uses a mass of rhetorical questions to agitate his audience. He expressed his resentful aspects toward Britain.

This was mainly due to the colonies' refusal to live and obey British rule. The colonists sole purpose for immigrated to America was escape the British rule. Although the American Revolution began in 1775, there were various events that lead to the war's conception. Some these events were the Stamp Act which required printed materials such a newspapers to be printed on British produced paper. The Townshend acts which were a series of acts passed by Great Britain that taxed the colonies. The Boston Massacre which resulted in 5 colonists being killed after an angry confrontation with British soldiers. The Boston Tea Party which was where the colonists dressed up as American Indian and dumped British produced tea into the harbor. This was in response to the Tea act that monopolized the tea trade within America. All these events helped to spark America's rebellious nature and fight got their independence in the American Revolution

Freedom, the one thing that America is know for. Freedom doesn’t just happen, it is earned. Patrick Henry was the man who said the first words that needed to be heard to bring about the freedom the we have today. Patrick Henry was born May 29, 1736, he lived his life defending people who couldn't defend themselves and became a attorney. In 1776 and 1784 he became the first and the sixth governor of Virginia. He was married twice, the first was in 1754 to Sarah Shelton, who later passed away in 1775 to what was believed to be postpartum psychosis. He was then married to Dorothea Dandridge in 1777 until he died on June 6, 1799.

Patrick Henry uses pathos to describe his feeling about the war and everything else in a way that is not disrespectful. When he uses pathos he wanted to express his feeling by talking about his emotion about the war, and how they suppose to fight British in order to survive. He also uses emotion to gain the colonist trust, so they can believe in him, and understand that he is right. A quote from his speech to explain that is "But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope that it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve" (263).

About a decade before the American Revolution happened in 1775, there were lots of tension building up between the colonists and the British. The colonists did not like being under British rule and control because they liked freedom and wanted independence. However, the British government attempted to raise tax revenues by imposing more taxes on the colonists to pay for the leftover debts from the Indian-French War. Some of the laws passed include the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Tariffs of 1767, and the Tea Act of 1773. Some events that escalated the tension include the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, etc. The colonists were justified in rebelling against Britain.

First, Patrick Henry gets intact with the reader's feelings, and his thoughts about war. He says “But different men often see the same subject in different lights,” this helps him to educate the audience that their opinion will almost always differ from someone else’s, but you shouldn’t judge their beliefs, or purposely disrespect it. Secondly, Henry says “I shall speak forth my sentiments freely, and without reserve.” Henry is saying that he’s going to speak his thoughts, and not put a filter on himself, because he believes the topic of war is so important to him, and the people around him. Lastly, Patrick says “They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other.” Henry is asking why are they sending an army after us if they want to reconcile