See if you can identify the meanings behind Henry's powerful word choices. Match each passage from the speech with the paraphrased sentences that have the same meaning.
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[Navies and armies]... are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging.
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We tend to cling to false hopes until we lose our power to act as thinking human beings.
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We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts.
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Do you want to be one of those people who refuses to see or hear an important truth?
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Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.
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The British troops are here to control us by force. The English government has been planning to subdue us for a long time.
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Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?
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We may not have much of a military, but we have strength in the number of colonists who are willing to fight for their freedom.
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Question
In general, how might you describe Patrick Henry's word choices in his Speech to the Virginia Convention?
Henry uses both simple and eloquent words to make his points. He uses dramatic words and phrases that carry connotations (emotional meanings) of danger, nobility, and glory.
