Two of the persuasive techniques Patrick Henry uses to convince the president and the colonies to fight in the “Speech in the Virginia Convention” are rhetorical questions and parallelism. One persuasive technique that Henry seems to fall back on throughout his speech is the use of rhetorical questions. Rhetorical questions are questions asked to make a point without necessarily answering them but to make a person think. Henry uses this technique to convince the president to declare war because by asking questions with the intention of having a dramatic effect, one may be persuaded to do more to help a situation. This technique is used many times throughout his speech to have that exact effect on the president and the colonies. Most of his rhetorical questions aim for an emotional effect: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" (Henry). In this quote, Henry is getting the people to think with this question by using pathos which is meant to give off a certain emotional effect on people. He mentions slavery which may make people uncomfortable or upset. It can also be viewed as him calling the people weak enough to be put into slavery by the British, and the last thing a leader wants to hear is how weak he or she is when they can easily prove otherwise. In his question, he also mentions how the colonists should not just settle for what they have but to fight for more. Pathos is also seen in the quote: “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). Henry is referring to how most people turn a blind eye to the bad parts of their lives when they believe that they are happy. He is telling them to avoid this because by turning a blind eye in their situation, one may miss when the British do actually come to take the American people as slaves. He does not want his people to fall back on false hope for freedom by not fighting for what they believe when they can easily fight and get past the point of hope but to victory. Lastly, he mentions being bound hand and foot which, once again, is referring to the horrible thought of slavery and how if they do not stand up now for their freedoms, they may never get the chance to again. Henry’s use of rhetorical questions appeals more to the themes of pathos when it comes to trying to convince the president to declare war on Britain.  

Another technique that is seen in Henry’s speech is parallelism. Parallelism is a balance within one or more sentences that have similar phrases or words to help a reader or listener better understand a situation. Henry uses this technique many times to help the president understand the predicament that they are in: “Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded..." (Henry). By repeating the word “our” before each addition to his sentence, he is emphasizing the steps the people have already made in regards to their freedom from Britain and how all these attempts have failed. This quote proves Henry is trying to convince the president to fight. By telling the president the peaceful steps that have already been taken and their failures, this will leave him with one final option, to go to war. This quote shows many themes of logos because he is naming the peaceful steps they have already taken which may have been the most logical at the time but now they need a more logical and effective way in their situation, which is to declare war to get their freedom. As well as appealing to the themes of logos when he uses the technique parallelism, he also appeals to the themes of pathos as seen in the quote: “...give me liberty, or give me death!” (Henry). By repeating the word “give” in both of these statements, he is emphasizing on how he will not stand for anything less than his freedom from Britain. By mentioning death as the only other option if he does not get his freedoms, he is aiming for an emotional effect from the people. In a way, he is also saying that without their freedom they might as well be dead because if they do not fight they will become slaves of Great Britain, forever silencing them. Parallelism is a technique that Patrick Henry uses many times to help the president better understand the need to declare war on Britain by using the themes of logos and pathos. In Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” he uses many techniques to help convince the president and the colonist to declare war, but his preferred techniques, which are seen many times throughout his speech, are rhetorical questions and parallelism.