During Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” Patrick Henry uses the literary devices parallelism and rhetorical questioning to persuade the men into entering a war against the British. To drive home his main point of battling England, Henry often uses parallelism. Patrick Henry expresses his frustration towards England when he says, “ We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament”(Henry). This quote exemplifies parallelism because it contains a constant repetition of the words “we have”. This repetition represents their constant process of protesting against England and elaborates that nothing has worked. In addition, he uses pathos by expressing his frustration about this matter. The people went from signing a peaceful petition to having violent protests and still, nothing has changed. Using his frustration, Henry makes an attempt to create this same frustration within the men of the convention, so they will be inspired to fight. Moreover, Henry stresses that war is the last and final option for the colonies to receive liberty: “If we wish to be free-if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending- if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!”(Henry). Because of Henry’s constant usage of “if we”, this quote exemplifies parallelism. In this parallelism, Patrick Henry uses logos as a way to make the colonists feel that there is only one reasonable option for the colonists, war. In addition, he, once again, summarizes all of their failed efforts to fight against the oppressive government. By doing this, he does an excellent job at expressing that the only logical thing to do is use force against the British to get what they want. To convince the colonists to go into battle against England, Henry successfully uses parallelism to convince the people of his beliefs.

In addition, Patrick Henry uses rhetorical questions to make the people self- aware that something needs to be done in order to obtain liberty. Henry explains the reason why the military is present in the thirteen colonies: “I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies?” (Henry). Henry asks these questions not to get an answer from the colonists but to explain his point, proving that he is using rhetorical questions. To explain his point, Henry uses logos, allowing the colonists to think logically on his questions. Patrick Henry asks what other reason would the military be there other than to force them into submission. Logically, the colonists would privately answer in their heads that there is no other reason because that is what a military does. In addition, Henry brings up that Great Britain has no enemies on the western side of the world, giving England no reason to have a military in the colonies. This brings Henry to explain that the colonists are the apparent enemies. Furthermore, Henry makes an attempt to force the colonists to ponder the time when they will become strong enough to fight England: “But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?” (Henry). To force his point into the colonists’ heads, he asks them questions in which they can ponder their answers personally without the opinions from others. Because Henry asks these questions to make a point and not to get an actual answer, he is using rhetorical questions. In his questions, he makes the colonists think logically by using logos. When he asks the colonists if they will gather strength by doing nothing; logically, the answer is no. This makes the colonists aware that they are doing nothing to solve their problem. In addition, he asks the people when will they get their strength, will it be while they lie on the ground, holding onto their last shred hope or when they are unarmed and the guards are stationed at every house. By using logic, strength is only received by doing something, physically or emotionally, so the colonists most likely personally answer his question with no. This stunts the colonists to receive the inspiration to start doing something and gain liberty, allowing Henry to achieve his end-goal.