In "Speech to the Virginia Convention," Patrick Henry uses parallel structure when he questions the House about when the country will be stronger and able to endure any attacks by Britain:
"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?"
He uses parallelism here to ask the House to consider the position of the American forces.
In the entire speech, Henry moves from appeals to ethos, to logos, and then to pathos. At the beginning of the address, he makes an appeal to patriotism to suggest his loyality to the colonies and the government: "No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as the abilities, of the very worth gentlemen who have just addressed the House."
In the middle of the speech, Henry moves into more logical appeals through his use of rhetorical questions that ask the House to consider the logical implications of not acting against Great Britain:
"Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other."
Finally, Henry ends the speech with appeals to pathos to arouse the audience and encourage them to resist the British forces:
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
Henry maintains a continuum of appeals in his speech to persuade the House to act.
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