Speech to the Virginia Convention (1775) Patrick Henry

Purpose The convince congress that America has no choice but to act now and arm itself against the British

Persuasive Techniques

Persuasion A form of discourse that uses logical and emotional appeals to convince another person to think or act a certain way

Logical Appeal when an argument is made by presenting facts or reason that lead the audience to a specific conclusion. “OnStar service inside your car is better than carrying a cell phone because a cell phone can’t call for you when you’re injured.”

Emotional Appeal appeals are rooted in feeling so they play on people's fears, joys, sadness, etc. and make the audience feel a certain way to persuade them to your side The telephone ads that state "reach out and touch someone" show people sharing tender, nostalgic or special moments over the phone. Life insurance or car insurance ads often play on people’s fear of death.

Rhetorical Questions A question that is asked for effect and that does not actually require an answer. The question assumes the audience agrees with the speaker on the answers.

Facts something that actually exists or something that can be proven to be true Halloween is celebrated on the thirty-first of October.

Opinions a personal view or attitude that cannot be proven The Beatles were the best rock band that ever performed.

Parallel Form/Parallelism Use the same grammatical forms to connect related ideas within a sentence or use the same sentence structure in separate sentences to link two ideas “Nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do” -Jonathan Edwards “ The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them” –Jonathan Edwards

Repetition Repeating words or phrases  “There is nothing to fear but fear itself” -FDR  “The war is inevitable – and let it come! I repeat it sir, let it come!” –Patrick Henry