American+Rhetoric

1. Henry's purpose was to persuade his audience that the only reasonable answer to their problem was a war. Britain was not being fair towards the colonists and they had already written to Britain, and it hadn't worked. Their only answer was a revolution. 2. His audience was the delegates of the Virginia Convention. His words were apporpriate because he addressed the delegates as "sir." At times he does get really into the speech, and relaxes his work choice, but for the most part, Henry uses proper words and addresses the members as higher authority compared to him. 3. Some rhetorical questions were: "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?" The purpose of these rhetorical questions were to let his audience understand what the colonies would be like if they do not stand up for themselves, and that British won't give them any freedom. 4. Henry creates an allusion to the Intolerable Acts in paragraphs eight and nine, that Parliament passed to restrict the colonies in many ways. He talks about how the colonies tried to ask Britain peacefully for more freedom and to have a separate government, but not be separate of Britain and Britain responded with the Intolerable Acts. He uses this allusion to persuade his audience to fight for independence because Henry says that the colonies have tried every peaceful solution possible, and Parliament still would not cooperate. So, the only choice they had left was to start a war.
 * ﻿American Rhetoric Patrick Henry's Speech: **

Thomas Paine's //Common Sense// 1. Paine's purpose was to desc ribe to the colonies how unfair the British government was treating them. Also he explained how the government should work and that the colonies should be the ones in charge of it. His book was very important in persuading the colonies to strive for independenc e. ﻿2. Paine uses deductive reasoning to help achieve his purpose by explaining simple situations on when a government will start when a few people will settle somewhere new, not connected with the rest of the world. The people try to agree on something, but one person will always be in opposition, and then the whole government has to start over again to get everyone in agreement. When Paine describes this situation, he shows how difficult it is to get everyone in agreement, which never really happens, and the colonies do not even get that choice to vote. They are not even represented in the British government and do not get a say in any kind of ruling that goes on the in colonies. It was an apporpriate choice beccause it was a good way to show the colonies how they should be represented and that the colonies can easily govern themselves if they had the chance. 3. "Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wckedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the letter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices" (Paine). In this sentence, Paine uses a juxtaposition to compare how happy we are when the government does what society need and then is negatively portrayed by the people when they resort to vices. Paine talks about how if something is more simple then it can easily repair the disorder, but in contrast the constitution of Englad is too disorganized to fix (Paine). This metaphor is used to show how if a constitution like England's is so disorganized that it is not able to be put to use and people should not live by it. No one follows its rules, so it cannot govern properly. "And as a man who is attached to a protitute if unfitted to choose or jusge a wife, so any prepossessionin favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one" (Paine). This is another metaphor comparing a prostitute to the rotten constitution to show how worng England's constitution is and that bo one can judge someone fairly off of it. 4. Paine talks about how "Heaven is impregnable to vice," which means that heaven is the only place where vices are not present and even though the world will ahve vices, there is no other country with as many as England (Paine). And if the colonies separate from England they will not have as many vices. Another example is when Paine says "WHICH NEEDS CHECKING, be from God," which explains how the king is not checked by anyone and since no one will stand up to the king then he cannont be trusted (Paine). And that God is on the colonies' side and he will help them when people start standing up to the king and have correct government.

The Declaration of Independence 1. His purpose was to justify going into a revolution and to state that the colonies wanted to be independent from Britian. Also his purpose was to explain all the wrong things that the British government had done to the colonies. 2. Jefforson uses inductive reasoning when he writes in the second paragraph that all mean are created equal and unalienable rights, which are life, liberty, and happiness, so it mkaes since if the governments are instituted by men (Jefforson). This helps him achieve his purpose because he is showing that men have the right to have a government that treats them fairly and knows what is best for the people. It is appropriate because he is telling Britian what the colonies want and what they demand to have. 3. "Which denounces our Seperation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends" (Jefferson). This juxtaposition helps achieve his purpose because he shows how they are enimies in war, who just wants peace in Britian. At the end of the Delcaration, Jefferson lists out all the rights and reasons why the colonies want to be separated. This long list is a way to show how much the colonies want, and how much England has done unfairly to the colonies. This helps excite the colonists to get ready for war. When Jefferson lists all the reasons for wanting independence, he uses repetition at the biginning of each statement to emphasize what all Britian had done and to make it seem like the list was longer than it really was. 4. A common misconception of citizens is that they did not know that Britian was taxing the colonies because the colonies needed soldiers there to protect them from indians. Most Americans think that Britian just taxed the colonies to get revenue, but that was only part of the reason. They needed the money to pay the soldiers for protecting the colonies.