Patrick Henry’s speech, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.”

The informal title of the speech delivered by Patrick Henry to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, is Grant Me Liberty, or Give Me Death. It deploys depictions of faith and rebellion, taking place in a synagogue, to convince the conference before him to vote for a proposal to assemble troops for the coming Civil War. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom later became U.S. senators, attended the speech and are widely viewed as the vote’s deciding event.

In the debate, Henry delivers his speech by stating his admiration for his critics, portraying them as extremely patriotic and professional. Nevertheless, he notes, persons are entitled to their own opinions on a subject and should openly share them. He then contrasts whether to gather troops to a decision between liberty and slavery, stating that he should not keep his emotions caged up, may he later be guilty of treason against them.

The speech helped inspire those present to start training Virginia soldiers for the war against Great Britain. By withdrawing gunpowder from the magazine, Royal Governor Lord Dunmore reacted to the speech. In November, he would issue Dunmore’s Declaration that proclaimed martial law in Virginia and promised independence to the slaves of rebels who supported the cause of the King.

Rhetorical devices are patterns of thoughts and phrases that stimulate emotions, generate repetitive emphasis, and are particularly useful. Repetition utilizes the same words as a Semantic Device. The same idea but different names is used by Rephrasing. Vectorization gives a similar form to two or more elements of the phrases to provide a definite pattern to the whole. Henry speaks of hope, the best, and also the worst emotion of all. He says that before concluding, it is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope.