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Comparing Cato's Letters And The Idea Of A Patriot King

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Though the causes of the American Revolution are complex, numerous, and intertwined, early-eighteenth-century English radicals played a large role through their influential essays. In “Cato’s Letters, No. 17,” John Trenchard (1721) analyzed and criticized the power-hungry English court, while Henry St. John Bolingbroke (1738)’s “The Idea of a Patriot King” supported the duties of men to a free government in relation to the conditions of Great Britain. Furthermore, these radical essays have their roots in the Puritan values of hard work, self-determination, and God-mandated laws. By believing that God alone willed the success of the colonies, the Puritans detached themselves from British aid and control. Through exposing the deceptive strategies of the British court and underlining the importance of rebellion to transforming the status quo, the …show more content…

St. John Bolingbroke (1738) argued that wickedness can be easily passed on from one ruler to another through the system and culture of corruption. He said, “the greatest iniquity of the minister…is the constant endeavour he has employed to corrupt the morals of men” (St. John Bolingbroke, 1738). Such an impious powerful person would prevail because he has spread his seeds of dishonesty that bear iniquitous fruits for every generation. Instead of waiting for rulers to change (and they would not because too much power decimates morality), someone powerful and moral should break the mold and radically change leadership, “nothing less is necessary than some great, some extraordinary conjuncture of ill fortune, or of good, which may purge, yet so as by fire” (St. John Bolingbroke, 1738). St. John Bolingbroke (1738) promoted the significance of an uprising from a leader who embodies genuine nationalism because anything less than fire would be insufficient to snuffing out the systemic problems of impiety among public

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524 Words | 3 Pages

Under the control of the British Parliament in 1775, the American colonies consider going to war in order to gain independence from Britain. In “Patrick Henry’s Speech in the Virginia Convention,” Henry addresses the need for American colonists to work together to stop the British from controlling them. Thus, Henry’s periodic sentence, rhetorical questions, antithesis, and anaphora successfully convince the American colonists to unite against the British and to bring awareness to their wrongdoings. Firstly, Henry applies periodic sentences and rhetorical questions to convey the idea that the American Colonists must fight back against the British by working together if they want to gain freedom. Henry believes that “if [they] wish to

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Rhetorical Analysis Of Patrick Henry's Speech

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“Talk of rebellion has been brewing for some time. It had been festering for the past several years, as Britain levied a series of taxes on its American colonies” (5). Henry observed the resistance to the countless British

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Francis J. Bremer And The New England Colonists

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Compare And Contrast The American Revolution Between 1763 And 1787

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During the American Revolution between 1763 and 1787, it is claimed that the revolution went through distinct stages of greater as well as lesser radicalism. After reading documents by Wood, Nash, Kenyon, and Linebaugh and Rediker, it is very clear that, infact, the American Revolution indeed went through well defined phases of lesser and greater radicalism. The American Revolution (1763-1787) went through vivid phases of both greater and lesser radicalism as expressed by Wood. He expressed that a great change came with the change of government from an English monarch to a republic where the people were represented by the people.

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Edward Mitchell 10/22/2016 English 10 Essay Unit 1 Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson played a large role in motivating the fight toward freedom in the weeks leading up to the Revolutionary War and immediately following it. Each believed in the fundamental right to be free from rule. Patrick Henry appealed to the people’s fear of war. Thomas Jefferson was able to convince people that together, they could form a new nation. The writings of each man reveals a very chaotic time in America’s history and the leadership, determination, and boldness of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson ensured that when change came, the people were ready for it.

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Why Were The American Colonies Justified

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1305 Words | 6 Pages

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