Reflection #7: Patrick Henry

I believe that Patrick Henry's speech does indeed exemplify the characteristics of the rationalistic writing style. Let me first start out by describing what the Rationalism period writing characteristics are. The first thing that I noticed about the Rationalism period is they simply state things how they really are. There is no skipping around the point. Henry got straight to the point. I think that the Rationalism period is all about that: justifying actions. The Rationalistic writers were the one who are going to tell you something exactly the way it really is. I personally like the Rationalistic writing style because I am a person who really just wants the key parts of a story. When someone is telling me a story, I prefer to just hear the important events and I think that is what the Rationalistic writers. They are not interested in coloring the picture for you, they are only interested in getting to the chase. I hate it when someone tells me a story and they take like ten years to explain something that I could have summarized into about a thirty second thing. I think that I am going to really like the style that we are going to find in the period of rationalism.

In the rationalism period, the scientific method was developed, so people were beginning to think more logically. The truth must be developed through reason (Boucquey). I think that the Rationalism period is very good at thinking logically and not so emotionally. I think that the speech by Patrick Henry was a really good example of rationalism because he was really thinking logically. I think that he might have had a different opinion than the one he shared in the speech, but he was using a rational though process and he was thinking rationally. I believe that people need to hear rationalistic thoughts so that they are not persuaded into thinking from a point of view that is not truly their own. I think that especially with government based speeches and articles need to be written in the style of the rationalists. This makes the politics more even so that the emotions of the writer are not shown, only their rationalistic thoughts.

Patrick Henry’s famous quote is “Give me liberty, or give me death.” He made people see that the war against Britain was already well under way before the first shot was fired. He showed that the colonies suggestions and input into things did not matter (Henry 118). Britain was already doing what they wanted to do, and the colonies had no input on it. Patrick Henry made the Convention aware of the way that things were going and the way they were going to continue going unless something was done about it (Henry 116). Britain had already basically started a war against the colonies without actually stating that. Henry showed how rationalists really capture the way that the world is, not the way that people think or hope that it is by their emotions.

Boucquey, Thierry, gen. ed. "rationalism." Encyclopedia of World Writers, 14th through 18th Centuries. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Henry, Patrick. "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 114-118. Print.