Speech in the Virginia Convention
Speech in the Virginia ConventionPatrick Henry
In “Speech in the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry attempted to persuade the delegates to fight and to convince them that the war had already begun and talking would do no good since the longer they wait the harder it will be to win. In this exquisite speech Patrick uses several different techniques such as opinions, repetition and rhetorical questions.
Patrick Henry used opinions, which he stated as facts, to persuade the council at the convention in Virginia to stand against England. He stated that, “There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.” He said Britain has turned her back to the colonials and now the time had come to sever their tides to Great Britain for, “we have done everything that could be done to advert the storm which is now coming on.” He believed that, “the war is inevitable,” and in some ways it has already begun.
Another one of the techniques Henry used was rhetorical questions to attempted to convince the representatives to go to war with Great Britain now before it was to late, He questions the parliament’s effrontery by asking, “When will it be time to fight? Will it be next week or next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?”
By applying repetition, Patrick Henry reinforces the points he wants his audience to concentrate on, therefore they may agree with him and take action against the British soldiers. Patrick repeated, “Peace, peace-but there is no peace,” to pursue them to engage forces against England. He also continuously restated that, “We must fight,” to be free, and “loyalty” and “liberty” to remind them what they are ready to fight for.
Patrick Henry believed that the time to indulge the hope of peace and reconciliation with the British had pasted. The Americans desired liberty and freedom, and they would have to bear arms in defense of those liberties. Britain was their formidable adversary and through revolution, they challenged the tyrannical hands of the Ministry, Parliament and the King of Great Britain.