The art of persuasion was one of the greatest assets possessed by the patriarchs of The United States. It allowed our founding fathers to preserve the fragile Nation through the decade of Revolution and left for its posterity the legacy of the most celebrated works of American history. Patrick Henry, in his address to the Virginia Convention, institutes effective use of the entire range of appeals, logos, ethos, and pathos giving the speech a quality of concrete infirmity which leaves the listener with no doubts; Virginia should join the Revolution of Independence.
             The logos faction of Henry's address utilizes firm facts to convince the listener that fighting or slavery are the only possible outcomes of their meeting. These appeals are used predominantly in the third and fourth paragraphs and mingle historical suggestions with rhetorical questions. "Are fleets and armies necessary to work a love and reconciliation?" asks Henry of his audience. The form that the suggestion takes on, a question, serves not only to state the obvious contradiction that the "fleets and armies" are not on American soil to promote peace, but to give the actions of the Convention a positive visage; to help the members feel justified in their actions. The later purpose is achieved in the second part of the question, "love and reconciliation". This suggests that while America is working for love and reconciliation, England is transporting fleets and armies. Henry's logos appeals are again evident in his description of the actions America has already taken for peace: "We have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves...". The purpose of the listing style of this section is to inundate the listener with many facts at once, each of which require personal thought, in order to stress the many tries at peace America has attempted. Additionally, all of the verbs in the passage are in past tense and there are only short se...