Patrick Henry Ethos Pathos Logos

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One of the earliest well-known opponents of Great Britain was Patrick Henry. Throughout his life he gave many speeches supporting the American Government, ultimately making a name for himself. During a time of uncertainty for the colonists in 1775, Henry still supported his opinions on American Democracy. In his opinion, the only choice left was to go to war with Great Britain. In order to gain the colonist's approval, he issued a marvelous speech persuading the colonists to go to war. Throughout his speech, Henry used many rhetorical appeals to convince the members of the Viginia Convention by using ethos, pathos, and logos. Patrick Henry used ethos to gain the members of the Virgina Convention's trust by establishing his credibility. For instance, Henry used biblical allusion to align the trust that they had within God, to the trust in which he is offering them. "There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations... The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone." Here Henry is speaking to the convention to tell them that God rules the nations and that he will not fail them. Furthermore, Henry states, "...if we make a proper use of those means …show more content…

He starts off with pathos in paragraph five by stating, " Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything to offer on the subject? Nothing..." to make them think about all the things they have tried but did not succeed. He then goes on to say, "Sir, we have done everything... we have petitioned... remonstrated... supplicated... postrated ourselves before the throne..." to allow his viewers to note that there is no other way. Henry appeals to his viewers emotional appeal by conecting and allowing his viewers to understand that no matter what they do, they will fail, and the last resort will be war either way. Although Henry used pathos to appeal to their emotional side, he appeals to their logical side by using