Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
Patrick Henry
The date was March 23, 1775. The Virginia Revolutionary Committee sat quietly in the St. Johns Church awaiting a speech from Patrick Henry. The colonies were in a time of turmoil and question. The Revolutionary War was drawing nearer, and many things were uncertain. Patrick Henry was a strong and avid supporter of the war. His job, convince the committee to arm a militia. He was one of the finest American orators of all time. He took the stage, and what happened next, no one could have imagined. Patrick Henry lit the fire of American Patriotism with his brilliant speech. The words echoed through the colonies and uplifted souls. But how could words result is such great actions? It was done through the power of rhetoric speech. Patrick Henry used his references to slavery and the bible to create his imagery.
English: Peter F. Rothermel's "Patrick Henry Befor...
Patrick Henry, portrait by George Bagby Matthews c...
English: US Postage stamp, Patrick Henry, 1955 iss...In Patrick Henry's speech he uses just about every form of rhetoric speech. One frequent form is that of his references to slavery. These suggestions apply Logos, Pathos, and Ethos in many ways. One example came from the start of his speech. As he was speaking on the question of going to war or not, he states "For my own part, I consider it nothing less that a question of freedom or slavery." That is quite a powerful statement. At the time, slavery is well known and widely practiced in the colonies. The citizens know the horrors and cruelty that slaves endure. It is basically pure torture. By stating this, he is putting the question in the minds of his audience, "Could I be a slave?" He essentially is saying that by not going to war, they were accepting the fact that they will become slaves, and as...