Patrick Henry Speech Analysis

Would America be the same nation today if it was not for some of our founding fathers and their contributions? If one were to take Patrick Henry out of this equation the answer could very easily be answered ‘yes’, for Henry played a very prominent role in the success of America’s independence. In the spring of 1775, Patrick Henry met with the second Virginia Convention to discuss the need for military mobilization against Britain’s immoral control over the colonies. Along with Richard Henry Lee and Thomas Jefferson, Henry co-created the Virginia House of Burgesses to help resolve to tumultuous state of the colonies. On March 23, Patrick Henry spoke to his fellow inhabitants of Virginia, in front of what is now St. John’s Church. He spoke with a fervorous intimacy that captured the attention of his audience, simultaneously demonstrating an undeniable support to fight the English rule. His use of rhetorical strategies throughout his speech tugged at the American patriot’s heartstrings, uniting supporters of the revolution to fight British tyranny.

Henry opens his speech addressing why colonists of differing opinions should come together to fight Britain’s rule. He acknowledges both sides, knowing that he must empathize with the differing sides and then promote his plan. He considers the action or dormancy of America’s military against British rule nothing more than a “question of freedom and slavery” (Henry). By doing so, he creates and ultimatum using two antonymic words “freedom” and “slavery”, therefore creating a fear of enslavement yet also evoking a sense of hope only found in military action. Henry says that by holding back his opinions he “should consider myself [himself] as guilty of treason towards my country, ...

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...uniting his audience. With repetition and increasingly succinct syntax, he leads the audience to a feeling of invigoration, even rebirth, for over the course of the speech Henry changed their minds completely. Henry asks, “Is life so dear...as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” With these words, Henry summarizes the points of his entire speech, reintroducing the motifs of slavery and imprisonment along with God’s blessing to fight.

For Patrick Henry, there was no compromise, and while historians still argue over the legitimacy of his speech, the impact it had was nothing short of revolutionary. His ability to craft a such carefully organized speech, embroiled with effective rhetoric places him at the forefront of American orators.