Patrick Henry Speech

Patrick Henry, a devoted patriot and wise man fulfilled a position in the Virginia convention. After the Intolerable Acts imposed by King George on the colonies, Americans suffered an unfair rule, where Great Britain took control. In 1775 Patrick Henry introduced a resolution to the Virginia Convention to form the local militia to be prepared to fight the British. In order to gain approvals from his collies, Henry employs rhetorical appeals witch help him urge his purpose and take the lead with the use of an urgent tone witch induces his audience to support his statement towards war. Patrick Henry begins his speech by stating an ethical appeal with the statement “Mr. President No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities of the very worthy gentlemen…. But different men often see the same subject in different lights.”At this juncture, Patrick Henry defends his position as a patriot; he uses the word “light” to introduce the idea that light represents truth and spiritual illumination. By doing this, he is aligning his view of the need to fight with God’s purpose. Also one can conclude that Henry is confident of what he is presenting on this day, he takes the advantage of his abilities and knows that fighting war is the way that leads to liberty. Continuing his speech Henry makes use of another ethical appeal, he declares “It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country” by the use of this words Henry creates an appeal of authority, to the authority of God and appeal that proves his position that shows him as a Christian. By this he attempts to transmit that what he says is that fighting for freedom is God’s truth and that it is a responsibility to both God and country. After establishing and ethical appeal, he uses mythical allusion, which he literary compares how the British are saying things to the colonists which are promising false