Rhetorical Summary Or Give Me Death

In 1775-1776, the colonists almost gave up in their fight against Great Britain. They needed the motivation to keep fighting for their freedom. The speeches of Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine convinced the colonists to keep fighting against Great Britain for their independence. In both of their speeches, they used rhetorical devices to support their claim and created rhetorical appeals to persuade the colonists to risk their lives to defend their rights. Both Henry and Paine used many rhetorical devices and rhetorical appeals in their speeches to encourage the colonists to gain their liberty from Great Britain and defend their country, the United States of America.

Patrick Henry “ Give me Liberty or Give me Death.” In the 1760’s Patrick Henry presented “The Speech of The Virgina Convention.” The speech was about going to war with the British so they could have independence. In that period of time people were interested in religon, war, freedom, expansion. The people stuggled with family members dying in war, having materials and supplies for war.

Paine stated that we should break all connection with Britain and only be trading partners instead of allies. This did not come true. America to this day is allies with Britain. Paine also states that anytime

Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine helped persuade America to declare their independence during the Revolutionary War against Great Britain. Both, Henry and Paine used many rhetorical devices throughout their speeches. The tone is the main difference between Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention” and Thomas Paine’s “The Crisis”.

America Should Separate from the King Writers of the revolutionary period effectively persuaded colonists in the Americas to separate from the king by using techniques such as pathos, rhetorical questions, and parallelism to make the colonists realize the importance in fighting in the war, along with sparking a fear in them. Revolutionary writers such as Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine use these rhetorical devices to try and persuade the colonists to fight on the side of America during this war. In “These are the times that try men’s souls”, Thomas Paine displays pathos, rhetorical questions, and Parnellism throughout his writing to convince colonists why they should fight and how the British are not America’s friends. Patrick Henry on the other hand, in “Speech to the Virginia Convention” uses the same

Therefore, Paine destroyed the importance of the British constitutional system as a guarantor of liberty and as consistent with reason and human needs. He launched his enterprise with a withering attack on the pretensions of monarchy after the rejection of the Olive Branch Petition, the new focus of the Americans' sense of betrayal and wrath. Loyalty to the monarchy was not important to the Americans. By demolishing the monarchy, and exposing the British constitution as built on monarchy, Paine suggested that the Americans consider independence from the British monarchy. Additionally, by exploding the constitutional context, he also transformed the argument from being the sole province of those politicians learned in the law, customs, and usages of the British system to an argument in which all Americans could and should take part.

In Henry’s speech, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death,” his passion for a revolution pushes him to put all of his efforts into persuading his audience. Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry are similar as they both specify their

For instance, in the statement “Mutual fear is the principal link in the chain of mutual love” He is saying that fear can bring them together as one, and that one will be much stronger. In o ne party of the essay he even mentions that you will either fight of suffer, which can be a scary thought. Jefferson never uses these tactics in his appeal, yet only states the facts with no opinion. Metaphors allow the reader to visually picture the words, and for instance Paine writes “though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal never can expire.” By hearing such a patriotic and descriptive phrase you can almost taste the victory. Throughout his essay, he compares the king to the devil. The king, “like hell, is not easily conquered.” Personification helps give human characteristics to America, as in the use of “she” in place of America and Britain. There are also many rhetorical questions tucked in to the writing. Paine simply asks, "What signifies it to me, whether he who does it is a king or a common man: my countryman, or not my countryman; whether it be done by an individual, villain or an army of them?” to show that every fighter is the same and the question isn't really a

Paine believes that for America to prosper in the long term it must gain independence

He argues that a democratic system based on continual elections and rights of the people protected by a written constitution would be more beneficial to society. To strengthen the concept of democracy, Paine speaks of a hypothetical society brought up in an isolated part of the world, away from other inhabitants. This supposed society represented the first people. Thomas Paine claims that some of its people will have many accomplishments other will not; thus through hunger, disease, misfortune and death it is inevitable that the people will set up some form of government that “…will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of government, and the happiness of the governed” (Thomas Paine, Common Sense). This statement reassures his beliefs towards democracy while showing how pointless English rule is to society. Thomas Paine is attempting to promote American independence with this document by explaining the benefits of democracy, in doing so he is demeaning the English government. Paine emphasizes the prejudices the English may have had by stating, “And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose

With the initially anonymous release of the pamphlet, Common Sense, Thomas Paine proposed to challenge Great Britain, as well as advocate for independence from the British government's sovereignty over what was then the thirteen American colonies. With the objective of coercing the American people to fight against Great Britain in mind, Thomas Paine employed various rhetorical strategies. These rhetorical strategies included: inductive and deductive reasoning through logic; but some of Paine's most persuasive arguments come from emotionally charged appeals to action and various forms of logical fallacies, which Paine used in an effort to coerce and inspire his audience, the American public, to unite with each other in the much anticipated battle

It is known that politicians use different forms of persuasive speech to continue their rule and get others to go along with what they think and do. In Patrick Henry’s speech “Speech to the Virginia Convention,” a claim that war would solve the future slavery of colonists under the British rule, and former president George W. Bush’s speech “President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat,” both politicians use rhetoric to show the people that war would best be served to improve their country. With this in mind, both speeches are very similar, much how other politicians’ orations are alike. The speeches are rhetorically alike because they use pathos, ethos, and loaded language to persuade their different audiences that war is necessary.

However, Paine combats all of these notions with well-thought-out, educated details that sway those arguments. For example, the idea of England increasing the profitability of America’s trade is addressed by Paine saying, “Our plan is commerce and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe; because it is the interest of all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade will always be a protection and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders.” (Paine, 458). Paine’s use of the lack of the readers’ common knowledge allows for a compelling argument which would enlighten audiences.

So he wasn’t just writing this for the poets, writers, politicians, but also for the farmers, herders, and cobblers. The passage that stands out the most when it comes to simplistic language is “Thoughts on the present state of American affairs.” In that passage Thomas Paine writes “I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense. (Paine.97) if it were present day Thomas Paine would have said “Let me break this down for you so you can understand where I’m coming from.” Paine then goes on to say there has been a struggle going on between England and America for a long time, and various tactics have been tried and failed. War between the two is the only option. He stresses that it is a big deal with the simple statement ‘Tis not he affair of a city, a county, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent—of at least one eighth part of the habitable

Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine created effective pieces of writing, however, the most effective piece, in my opinion, is Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death. I believe Patrick Henry's Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death targets its audience more effectively because of the beliefs and wishes Henry had for America. He wanted equality and peace for everyone. The most famous and crucial line would simply be the last one of the entire speech, "Give me liberty or give me death!" To gain the liberty and freedom they deserve, they must come together and fight.