Baylor College Medical School

aslan! or Jill Literature (Speech in the Virginia Convention by Patrick Henry)

cc1. What does Henry warn the colonists about?

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From the text, Patrick Henry warns, "Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? 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."

His ultimate warning is that the colonists must beware of a government that fails to listen to the largest groups of its population. The King and Parliament had both turned a deaf ear to the colonists and would not listen to or work with them. They had no representation, not would they get any.

Greta, I actually went to make a spelling correction and reported myself as abuse instead..... sorry about that! In the last line, that should read, "nor would they get any." Sorry!

That's OK Jill, I understood what you wrote. Thanks so much once again. I missed you guys. Have a Great Evening!