Parallelism and repetition are used by Patrick Henry to convince the colonies to declare independence from Britain through war in his speech, “Speech in the Virginia Convention.” The first form of persuasion used by Henry is parallelism. Parallelism is the use of the same grammatical structure to reinforce the main idea being portrayed. Henry repeats many phrases with the same beginning: “We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated.” (Henry 205). He does this to emphasize that the people have tried every other option they had. He uses this parallelism in an attempt to tell the colonists that they have exhausted all other resources to gain freedom and that war is their only option. Henry applies logos, or logic,  to his argument through this quote because he explains that, logically, the people should notice that war is the only option they have. This persuasive technique successfully completes Henry’s goal by assisting the people in realizing they must go to war with Britain to gain their independence. Another form of parallelism is used by Henry when he says, “The vigilant, the active, the brave” (Henry 205). He repeats these adjectives to rally and trick the male citizens into fighting by questioning their dominance or “manhood.” Henry appeals to the pathos, or emotions, of the crowd by inspiring anger or defensiveness in the men who wish to remain brave in the eyes of the public. He attempts to make the men feel pressured to defend their honor, and he successfully does so through this use of parallelism, completing his overall goal of war with Britain. Through the use of parallelism, Henry is able to successfully persuade the colonies to fight for their freedom from Britain.

In addition to parallelism, Henry uses repetition to aid in convincing the colonies that war is necessary for independence. Repetition is the use of the same words or phrases for emphasis of a topic or idea. Throughout his speech, Henry repeats a phrase: “We must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!” (Henry 206). He repeats this phrase so that the people will begin to remember it and eventually think and live by it. Henry uses this to apply logos to his argument again as he explains that fighting is the only option left for the people, and they logically should begin to participate in a war. His repetition of telling the people of the necessity to fight aids his overall motive of getting the people to want to start a war. Moreover, Henry also repeats, “Let it come! I repeat, sir, let it come!” (Henry 206). Henry uses this phrase when referring to the inevitable war with Britain. His point is to inform the people that the war will happen eventually, so they should embrace it and allow it to happen now. Henry informs the people of the unavoidable war in their future, and he applies emotions, or pathos, in this quote by inspiring confidence in their ability to prepare in the current time. By using the repetition of words and phrases, Henry is able to convince the citizens of the colonies to wage a war for their independence against Britain.