Patrick Henry was trying to convince the delegates at the
convention to go to war against the British. He needed to evoke emotional responses of
justified anger from them to win them over to his ideas. The words he uses are like
power kegs of secondary emotional meaning. The American Heritage Dictionary says
that
"A
connotation includes the emotions or associations that surround a word." (See
Link)
Patrick Henry, an
outstanding orator, was not naive to the power of words. He creates feelings of loyalty
with words such as patriotism, freedom, and liberty.
He also uses words such as betrayed, treason, submission, retreat,
disloyalty, subjugation, slavery, and death to stir up
the righteous indignation of these men. He utilizes powerful phrases in the speech such
as insidious smile and illusions of hope, and
the one phrase that will evoke emotion even today in speeches God and our
country.
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