American+Rhetoric

American Rhetoric Questions "//Speech to the Virginia Convention//"- Patrick Henry

1. Patrick Henry's purpose in this speech is to convince the delegates to form a militia of local men to fight against the British army. 2. Henry's audience members are the members of the Virginia Convention, and his words were apropos, since his use of "our" and "we," insinuated that they were in the fight against the British together. 3. Two of the rhetorical questions Henry asked "Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received?" and "Can gentlemen assign any other possible motives for it?" These questions showcase Henry's disbelief in Britain's treatment of America, and the questions ask of the audience to consider the answers profoundly. 4. Henry makes allusions towards the Bible. Referencing it such as when he says “Are we disposed to be of the number of those who having eyes see not, and having ears hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation.” This reference to Ezekiel 12 talks about how those who can't hear or see God will not obtain spiritual salvation. Henry compares this to how the colonists cannot hear or see the truth about Britain, as he equates the inability to obtain freedom with death.

"//Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with concise Remarks on the English Constitution from Common Sense//" - Thomas Paine

1. Thomas Paine's purpose for writing this is to show the audience that government and society are two very distinct things, and that government's purpose is to restrain man, and that society's purpose is to express it. 2. Paine implies that because many governments help their people, therefore all governments should help their people, to help show that our government needs changing. And yes, it is used appropriately. 3. In his essay, Paine uses exclamatory, declarative, and interrogative statements. Exclamatory: "A mere absurdity!" shows the vehement passion Paine shows for the cause against the King's tyranny. Declarative: "And as a man who is attached to a prostitute is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one." This is saying that the colonies must be able to recognize that the government is rotten in order to form a good government. Interrogative: "How came the King by power which the people are afraid to trust, and always obliged to check?" Paine is essentially asking the audience to consider how it's possible to be governed by a someone whose power they don't trust, asking this question allows the audience to think for itself and allows the idea to settle in. 4. Paine references how the King's power was given to him by God, and that the King is extorting this so-called holy privilege.

"//Declaration of Independence//" - Thomas Jefferson 1. Jefferson's purpose in the Declaration of Independence was not only to establish the fact that America needs freedom from the British, but that America deserves that very freedom and could hold its own as a separate entity from them. 2. Jefferson uses Inductive Reasoning to get his point across that the British government has stripped the colonists of many of their rights, stepping over them as if they were nothing. 3. With the use of many syntactical choices, Jefferson states that the government has taken away the colonists rights. For instance, the way Jefferson repeatedly begins his sentences with "He has..." points the finger at the King of England, blaming him for the colonists grief. Furthermore, in the line of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" good assonance is showcased, allowing it to simmer in the minds of the reader. Finally, when Jefferson says "depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury", a juxtaposition comes into play. The idea that they were "deprived" from "benefits" causes the reader to think more about what it is they're reading. 4. Contrary to popular belief, the Declaration of Independence was not signed on July 4th. Independence was declared formerly on July 2nd, but the writing of the Declaration was finished on July 4th and it wasn't officially signed until August 2nd.

In all of these documents, every author voices his own opinions on America's Independence, who does it the most effectively is a question to be debated. Patrick Henry often uses rhetorical questions, drawing the audience in and inviting them to be a part of his opinion, making them really think about what he was trying to convey. Thomas Paine's essay, on the other hand, uses his vocabulary to his best avail, making his ethical persona rise above the paper and thus impressing the reader even persuading him or her. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson accuses the King specifically bringing him out in to the spotlight and making his frustration and anger on the treatment received from Britain the most apparent the most out of all of these papers,stressing that the colonists had their rights taken away entirely and thus making his point strong as opposed to modestly concealed. Taking all of this evidence into account, it could easily be said that Henry's document was the stongest, successfully drawing in his audience, Jefferson's came close second due to his accusatory strategy, and Paine's was the weakest due to the underlying pompous attitude in his essay.