Patrick Henry 's Give Me Liberty

The colonists were being heavily taxed, and treated very unfairly. With acts such as the

Modern historians often claim that Patrick Henry tended toward demagoguery and propaganda in his 1775 Speech to the Second Virginia Convention. I agree with these modern historians on the basis of Henry’s constant use of emotional appeals (pathos) and rhetorical devices such as parallel syntax, allusions, and irony to name a few. While he did have ethical (ethos) and logical (logos) appeals, the majority of Henry’s word choice and sentence structure showed that his speech was made up of emotional appeals that included both demagoguery and propaganda.

In major historical documents, authors often use rhetorical appeals in form of ethos, pathos, and logos. Those are helpful to include Power, Motivation, and Confidence in a speech or text. Patrick henry used Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in hs speech to the Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, to prepare his audience, who are patrious and christians, for war with Great Britain, because he wants freedom and liberty for the United States.

At the Second Virginia Convention held on 23rd March, 1775 in St. John’s Church, Richmond Virginia, Patrick Henry stood and addressed his fellow delegates regarding the defense and arming of Virginia State.[1] While some delegated supported the reconciliation with

It all began when King James I granted a royal charter in 1606 that prompted the Virginia Company to begin their search for a settlement in North America. The Virginia Company was a corporation in which shares were to be bought by wealthy London men so that their money could be turned into “capital monies” that would supply for a colony that they hoped would become successful enough to return the profits . The Virginia Company upheld the rights of creating a council of leaders in the colony that would act as a government in a way. The company had to provide the settlers,

There are many ways to convey a message to readers. Often times authors, speech writers, etc., refer to Aristotle’s three main concepts of rhetoric, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is considered to be the, “credibility,” of the author. Pathos is the idea of, “emotional appeal,” to the audience. Finally, Logos is the translated as the, “logic,” involved when making a point. All forms of rhetoric have at least one of these concepts, while good arguments incorporate a well balanced mixture of the three.

From the 1650s to the 1750s, the British colonies in America economically thrived under salutary neglect. The British crown would turn a “blind-eye” to merchants and sailors trading with foreign nations– outlawed by Parliament. During this period, the colonists felt as if they had control over the respective state governments and the taxes they paid. However, in the mid-1700s, the period of salutary neglect by the British ended, resulting in greater Parliamentary control and the imposition of many direct taxes, such as the Sugar act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765. These direct taxes angered many colonists, as previously they had been paying indirect taxes, but these direct taxes where place without any direct representation in Parliament.

In March of 1775, the words of Patrick Henry rang in the ears of his fellow Virginians. He stood in St John’s Church, located in Richmond, made an audacious public speech containing his opinions in relation to the colony’s next step of action in the war. This was not the first time that Henry stood in front of an audience to present a speech. Henry was known for speaking messages that people did not forget. Prior to this speech, Patrick Henry had made his name known by writing the ‘Virginia Resolutions’ against the despised Stamp Act. In the view point of this specific speech however, Henry spoke his opinion of the war starting and what he believed as truth. Virginia was the largest American Colony, with the House of Burgesses that was the

In 1763 it was announced, that the British ministry had it in view to " tax the colonies, for the purpose of raising a revenue, which was to be placed at the disposal of the crown.' This news filled the colonies with alarm. In Massachusetts, a committee was appointed by the people of Boston to express the public sentiment in relation to this contemplated measure, for the guidance of the representatives to the general court. The instructions of this committee were drawn by Mr. Adams. They formed, in truth, a powerful remonstrance against the injustice of the contemplated system of taxation; and they merit the more particular notice, as they were the first recorded public document, which denied the right of taxation to the British parliament. They also contained the first suggestion of the propriety of that mutual understanding and correspondence among the colonies, which laid the foundation of their future confederacy. Ill these instructions, after alluding to the evils which had resulted from the acts of the British parliament, relating to trade, Mr. Adams observes: -- "If our trade may be taxed, why not our lands? Why not the produce of our lands, and every thing we possess, or use? This we conceive annihilates our charter rights to govern and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privileges, which, as we have never

This speech is very intriguing from a rhetorical standpoint because it serves as a pertinent example of an orator taking advantage of a pivotal moment in time by establishing good character, and by making emotional appeals towards an audience, as a means to gain the potential rewards the moment provides. With these thoughts in mind, this paper will apply classic rhetorical concepts of kairos to examine King Henry’s recognition of and capitalization on the kairotic moment he finds himself privy to; of ethos, to examine how King Henry establishes his credibility to his army as a means to gain their trust and goodwill; and of pathos, to examine how King Henry appeals to the army’s emotions in order to influence them to disregard all logic telling them that the King is proposing an unreasonable

One of the most arbitrary, but compelling bonds formed in society is that which is formed during communication involving an exchange of information. Almost all knowledge, behaviour, or emotion can be traced to, or is derived from some sort of network that connects a sender to a receiver. This relationship often provokes action as a result of how the information is conveyed by the informant. The aforementioned analogy applies inextricably to this bond in that the bias present in the delivery of information inclines the recipient to view the information similar to the sender, rather than impartially. Four devices in particular can be attributed to the persuasiveness of the bias in the information. When evaluating Julius Caesar 's funeral speeches, this is especially pertinent. Antony was the most influential rhetorician because of his ability to exploit the crowd’s emotions surrounding the assassination of Caesar, and how he was able to effectively leverage his position as a close friend of Caesar; Brutus was more balanced and consistent in his use of rhetorical devices. While Brutus’s oration was convincing, it was undermined by Antony’s onslaught of examples which damaged Brutus’s credibility, and gave him a decisive authority over the crowd.

This study focuses on rhetoric and persuasion. It examines the different rhetorical devices used by Cicero in his speech and the elements of persuasion involved. It is limited to just that one speech

Rhetoric is an art form created before the reign of Gorgias, by Aristotle. As time progressed throughout the ages, Aristotle taught the art of rhetoric to his student Socrates, who eventually taught it to Plato. The art gradually adapted into the rhetoric we use today, providing the reason as to why Plato chooses to recreate the account of Socrates and Gorgias’ discussion. Plato shows us how Socrates’ knowledge of proper usage of rhetoric is vaster than that of Gorgias’. He helps us visualize the various ways he uses rhetoric, to provide the reason for his ability to use rhetoric better than the other Orators. This is illuminated by Socrates’ use of pathos, in his argument of pain and pleasure, the use of ethos in speaking about the comparison of medicine and gymnastics, and his use of logos in his debate on the body and soul. Plato places special consideration into choosing the topics he highlights in the story because of Socrates innate ability to refute these topics the way does.

One of the most famous quotes to come out of the Revolutionary War is Patrick Henry’s “Give me Liberty, or Give Me Death.” This begs the question of what is liberty and does it change. A simple answer would be yes, but the how it changes and what it evolves to is the more difficult question. An example of this is when American perception of liberty shifted in a 15-year period between the Mexican War and the Civil War. In the years leading up to the Mexican American War manifest destiny was at its highest. Manifest Destiny, a thought that America has the God given right to stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific, influenced thousands of people. This influenced individual’s perception of liberty because they believed that they had the right to settle on any land they deemed as their own. The idea of liberty shifted from manifest destiny to two very distinct ideas.

By the mid-1700’s, American colonists had grown accustomed to Great Britain’s lax enforcement of royal laws and taxes in the colonies, an unofficial policy known as “salutary neglect.” Though many laws existed regarding foreign and local trade in the colonies, they were not strictly enforced, and as a result smuggling and evading taxes was common, even expected