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What Are The Rhetorical Devices Used In Patrick Henry's Inaugural Address

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As Toni Morrison has made clear, language can be used to oppress and subjugate other people. However, it can also be used for more honorable purposes. The four different public speeches in the United States — Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death,” Abraham Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg Address,” John F. Kennedy’s “Inaugural Address,” and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream.” — were used to uplift and ennoble an audience. The authors of these four speeches utilized strong rhetorical devices like logos, ethos, and pathos in order to successfully convey their message to their audience. These speeches were given in order to protect the freedom, liberty, and equality of all people. Patrick Henry was an influential leader of the 18th century who delivered one of the most famous speeches in the United States. He was also a politician, with a strong sense of patriotism, leading to his opposition against the British government. According to Historian Evan Andrews, America was under the control of the British before Independence Day, and by 1774, the British Parliament started passing laws to tax colonists. However, Henry was remarkably against being in submission to the British government. The patriot transformed the spirits of the colonists, and perhaps bringing America, itself, out of slavery through a speech, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” This speech was given at the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Richmond,

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