Thomas Paine Speech Analysis

Thomas Paine makes a statement and compares the king to a thief that stole their land. Paine states, “but if a thief breaks into my house, threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to “bind me in all cases whatsoever” to his absolute will, am I to suffer it?”(Paine). Trying to persuade people to join the fight, Paine is asking the colonists why they are subjecting their selves to the tyranny of the king; furthermore, Paine is explaining that the colonists have no choice, but to fight or they will forever be under the tyranny of the king. Patrick Henry makes a statement about the petition in his speech that says, “Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received?”(Henry). With his rhetorical question, Patrick Henry is trying to show the colonists that the king did not care for their petition and would not settle for anything. Therefore, Henry would then go on to state why they should declare war on Britain and gain their

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

Proving that the liberties of the common people are something worth fighting for, Paine uses relatable figurative language in order to provide a more personal connection to the colonists in hopes of encouraging the proverbial David to stand up and wage war against Goliath. Paine pens an analogy stating that if a “child has thrived upon milk” then the child will never want “meat”. This analogy elicits a critical turning point in Paine’s pamphlet as he transitions from asking rhetorical questions to authoritative and comparative statements. Paine alludes to the overwhelming axiom that the colonies have been a baby drinking milk only satisfied by meeting the needs of Britain, instead of standing up for their individual rights and

Thomas Paine utilizes Pathos to strike an emotion towards Colonists and persuade them. In order to persuade the Colonists to act Paine uses Pathos. As Paine writes “America will never be happy

From the Crisis No.1 written by Thomas Paine and the Speech at the Virginia Convention by Patrick Henry were two major sources during the time of the Revolutionary War. Both speeches were persuasive and moving for the colonist. The common purpose of the revolutionary speeches during that time was to persuade the common people to become fully independent from tyranny. Even though the common purpose for both speeches was to separate from Great Britain, they both used different methods or strategies in their speeches like the tone, and how they appealed to the situation.

In both Thomas Jefferson’s The Declaration of Independence and Thomas Paine’s The Crisis, Number 1, the use of emotional appeal serves to develop each argument. In the introduction of The Declaration of Independence, Jefferson States that King George “is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny…” (114). Thomas Jefferson uses emotional appeal in this statement to create fear throughout the passage by using charged words such as, “Death, desolation, and tyranny” which makes King George seem sinister. Thomas Jefferson and the writers of the Declaration of Independence made several calls to the emotion. Many of his emotional appeals are to call for the empathy of the crown and to set up a feeling of dissatisfaction and frustration with the king's tyranny towards the colonies. In Thomas Paine’s The Crisis, Number 1, Thomas Paine exclaims in his passage, "America will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion. Wars, without ceasing, will break out till that period arrives, and the continent must in the end be conqueror; for though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire." (##) Thomas Paine uses emotional appeal in this statement to discuss about the happiness of the country, which appeals to the idea of emotional equality and that every American has the right to life, freedom, pursuit of happiness. When you give this idea to live in a happy America and to be happy, it naturally boosts

During Thomas Paine speech, “The Crisis No. 1” colonists had to decide whether to live under the British rules or fight for their own freedom, what if the colonists thought about the idea about fighting back, but it was too late to make a decision and British has already taken over, Would America be different now? During this time period colonists were struggling throughout the Revolutionary War along with the Stamp Act, Tea Party, Lexington and concord until Thomas Paine released the Common Sense and the colonists left relieved. In “The Crisis No. 1” by Thomas Paine, he uses pathos to encourage parents and families to protect their young ones and hoped for them to fight in the war.

For example, Paine claims if the “back counties” were to give up their arms, then they’d be killed by the Indians, whom the British had given weapons and stirred up. If the “home counties” were to surrender, then the back counties would inevitably express their resentment. And if any one state were to yield to the British, then the British would need to protect them with all they’ve got to keep the other states from destroying them. Another technique the pair use is fear-mongering and inspiring hatred of the British. Henry did this mostly with slave imagery, while Paine uses more varied scenarios of life under the British. Paine suggests that slavery may not be the worst of the possible futures under British

Thomas Paine had a way with words like no other writer, speaker, composer, etc. He is able to finesse the ability of give purpose to his writings, or making them logical. One line that demonstrates his skill to give purposeful meaning to his writings is “ but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever" to his absolute will, am I to suffer it? 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?.” This here is how Thomas Paine is able to “rally the troops” and get each soldier to look at each other and think “why am I standing here dreadfully, I should be fighting for my country!” Thomas Paine in other words, is able to get each soldier to understand his writings and get them to continue fighting for their country, and not back down because they feel like “the underdog” or losing side of the

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?” (Henry 104). The period directly prior to the Revolutionary War was a time of increased tension, mostly surrounding the Colonies relationship with Britain. The people were being taxed harshly and unfairly, but there had yet to be a definite stop to it. By the time the Intolerable Acts had been put in place to punish colonists, England’s bond with America was nearing a crisis. Britain continued to oppress; and colonists continued to grow bitter at the treatment. Patrick Henry most effectively uses pathos in his “Speech to the Virginia Convention” by touching upon the fear being felt from Britain’s presence in the Colonies, and focusing on the colonists desire to be free from Britain’s rule.

In lines 37-40 he says “... a generous parent would have said, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace:””. This example puts the listener of The Crisis in a mindset that forces them to consider the future, not only for themselves, but also for their children. This helps to persuade the audience because they must reason with the idea that Paine has presented to them. To add to the idea of reasoning, Paine says in lines 43-46 “America will never be happy until she gets clear of foreign dominion. Wars, without ceasing will break out until that period arrives, and the continent in the end must be the conqueror; for, though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal never can expire…”. This statement has a number of meanings to it. The first concept that Paine highlights is the idea of escaping from other countries. It is unlikely that Paine was scared of directing this towards Britain exclusively, so it could be concluded that this was meant towards all countries in general, and if this is the case then Paine was already trying to convince the people of America that isolationism was the route that they should be directed towards. After this point, he makes reference to liberty. During this time, America was an experimental country with freedoms and liberties that no other country had seen before, using democracy, a principle that not many countries had used. Although Paine was known for directing The Crisis

When he stated, “In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it together by the ears.” it showed both of his objectives in just one sentence (Paine). It showed how destructive and non-pure a monarchy is because all it does is fight and take over other areas, but at the same time it shows how much the colonists need to claim their independence or else they will be in possession of a radical government. Thomas Paine also stated, “For it is the republican and not the monarchical part of the constitution of England which Englishmen glory in, viz. the liberty of choosing an house of commons from out of their own body—and it is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues.” (Paine). This means that the democratic republic is perfect in his opinion but it can’t be perfect when the leader is a monarchy with a king. His use of this simple information allows the common people to understand what he is trying to portray and makes them think the same way he is. Paine’s use of simplicity along with persuasive arguments pushed his views towards people and would eventually lead to the fight for independence in the Revolutionary

Paine’s syntactical structuring ranges from cumulative to periodic in order to gather the troops to raise their fighting spirit. He uses repetition in his sentences to emphasize that the British have committed heinous actions against the colonists, taxing them and using military force to guarantee American cooperation. Paine varies his sentence lengths for extra emphasis on some particular topics such as the colonists not declaring independence earlier. He writes that they could have used the winter as an advantage and to not properly make use of the winter was a fault on the American’s behalf. Paine follows this statement with a shorter sentence establishing and restoring hope to the American army, with a belief that the colonists could still triumph over the British. Not only did his syntactical structure aid his inspirational speech, Paine’s appeal to the

Paine believed that the only power people should have is God and nothing else. He uses figurative language to show the audience how he feels so that they are able to connect to the situation better. “let them call me rebel, and welcome, i feel no concern from it; but i should suffer the

At the root of Thomas’s speech is pathos and his usage of a call to action and patriotism that is in every colonists. The first remarkable occurrence of pathos is an anecdote about a tavern keeper who Paine portrays as a poor father stating, “With as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, ‘Well! Give me peace in my day.’” (Paine 2). Criticism came quickly as many male figures hated the way this man completely disregarded the well being of his young child and was strictly concerned of himself. Not only does he as that he have peace, but is also representing his failure to care if his own child suffers later on in life at the cost of peace during the father’s life. Later on in Paine’s writing, he refers to a man quite well known around the colonies. Thomas will go on to compare King George, leader of Great Britain at the time, to a thief. His cause for this can be explained by, “for I think it murder, but if he that breaks, into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, am I one to stand by and suffer?” (Paine 4) The idea of breaking into Paine’s house is an allusion to the British troops that have invaded and stationed in the colonies. He then goes on to talk about burning and destroying the items in his house whether it be taxing items or destroying property of the colonies. Finally, Paine’s reference to death or threaten to kill is connected to the Boston Massacre as well as threats of death for anyone who goes against the crown. Paine wishes to expose George and his many taxes and does so successfully by calling George a thief as he continues to steal from