Payton Sullivan

Mrs. Sharp

English 11- Period 1

1 September 2017

Argument Analysis Essay

In Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention” on March 23, 1775, Henry

speaks in order to persuade colonists to come together and fight Great Britain for their freedom.

At this time, the colonies were being taxed insane amounts and had to abide by Parliament rules

and acts in which they had no voice in creating. This caused some colonists to see that life

without Great Britain would be much better. One of these colonists, later known as patriots, was

Patrick Henry. The purpose of this speech was to incite realization for both friendly and hostile

audience members that fighting Great Britain for independence was the best option, and it would

have to be done soon. He portrays his purpose by appealing to ethos, pathos, and logos.

Henry appeals to ethos many times throughout his speech. For example, Henry begins his

speech by saying, “No man thinks more highly than I do of patriotism.” This is a very strong

thing to say, as there are many passionate patriots in his time. By doing this, Henry shows how

he is extremely passionate about the issue at hand and very educated on the subject. This makes

the audience trust him and what he says more because he has experience in this field and he is

not just going to speak vaguely and incorrect about a very pressing issue. This establishment of

credibility early on in his speech sparks a listener’s attention and it is more likely for people to

listen if they believe what they are about to hear is not just a waste of time. Henry also appeals to

ethos through biblical allusions. One of the many times Henry references the bible or God is

when he expresses his only form of guidance as “the lamp of experience”. By saying a spinoff of
a familiar bible verse, the audience will understand that Henry is a spiritual person, which

happened to be a very desirable trait in the 18th century. This religious reference shows how

Patrick Henry has valuable experiences through which his wisdoms grows and leads him to

worthy solutions. Patrick Henry appeals to ethos in order to convince his audience of both hostile

and friendly colonists that gearing up to fight against Britain is the best option.

Patrick Henry also appeals to pathos multiple times in his speech. Henry brings up the

colonies civil attempts at reformation and how Britain always reacted in a sneaky way. He then

asks the audience to think about how our polite petitions have brought about “war-like

preparations which cover our waters and darken our land.” The threatening diction of words such

as “cover” and “death” evoke feelings of suffocation, restraint, and death. The audience is

experiencing these uncomfortable feelings and it causes them to want to fight for their freedom.

By reaching a vulnerable place within the audience’s emotions, Patrick Henry exercises his

purpose through the use of pathos. He also appeals to pathos after explaining how this brewing

storm is inevitable. He displays how the colonies “have petitioned...have remonstrated...have

supplicated...have prostrated” themselves to no avail. Through the anaphora of this sentence,

emotions build up as everything the people have done is being laid out in front of them with no

reward. At this point, the people should be feeling desperate and vulnerable, as they have given

so much and nothing has improved. These feelings of sadness and fear change to motivation to

fight for what is right, conveniently aligning with Patrick Henry’s purpose. By appealing to

pathos, Henry’s argument to both hostile and friendly colonists is strengthened.

Alongside ethos and pathos, Patrick Henry uses logos to convey his argument that all

colonists need to band together, gear up to fight, and prove to Britain that America should
become its own independent country. Some people might say that Henry’s attempt at appealing

to logos is a failure because his logical reasoning is biased. However, the bias works in Patrick

Henry’s favor, as he is trying to persuade the audience to share in his beliefs, so he must have an

opinion on the issue for his argument to be properly conveyed. One example of Henry’s appeal

to logic is when he concludes that “there is no longer any room for hope”. He follows this line by

saying how if the colonies wish to become free, there are things they have to do. This logical

reasoning persuades the audience of both friendly and hostile colonists that Henry is a reasonable

thinker, and they should follow his instructions if they wish to ever have independence. Patrick

Henry shows his reasonable thinking again when saying how he “know[s] of no way of judging

of the future but by the past”. Here, Henry is essentially saying that history tends to repeat itself,

and Britain has been nothing but cruel, unfair, and problematic for the thirteen colonies in the

past. He is making a logical guess that Great Britain is not going to suddenly start treating the

west with love and affection. This conveys his argument through reason that nothing in the way

they are treated is going to change, so to change this unideal circumstance they will all have to

join forces and fight their oppressor. Logical reasoning is used throughout this speech to assist in

reaching Henry’s purpose.

In his speech to the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry argues that all colonists need to

gear up to fight for freedom against Great Britain. He conveys this argument to both his hostile

and friendly audiences by using rhetorical persuasion techniques such as ethos, pathos, and

logos.