Tyrannical
Part of Speech: Adjective
Definition: harsh; oppressive (think:
like a tyrant)
Sentence: In the years leading up
to the Revolutionary War, many
colonists thought that the British
government was extremely
tyrannical.
The Road to Independence
Date
The French and Indian War
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War between French and British
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Colonists fought for British, Native Americans fought with France
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The British won and received all land east of the Mississippi
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The colonists were not allowed to settle in the land they helped to win
- west of Appalachians were off-limits (Proclamation of 1763)
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To avoid conflict with Native Americans
Colonists were taxed to pay the war cost
Sugar Act
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Lowered tax on imported molasses
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Hurt the colonists’ sale of their own molasses
Stamp Act
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Took effect on November 1, 1765
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Taxes for stamps that would be placed
on paper products - anything from
books, to wills, to playing cards
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Made colonists very angry...
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Repealed in 1766
Townsend Acts
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Taxes on imported goods such as glass, lead, paint, tea, etc.
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Most of these goods HAD to be imported (no production in the
colonies)
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This led to protests...
The Boston “Massacre”
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Encounter between British troops and citizens of Boston
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Colonists antagonized British soldiers
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Snowball -> soldier -> fired -> 5 colonists dead
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Propaganda
Tea Act
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1773
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Permitted the British East India Tea Company to sell their product at a
lower price than the colonial tea companies
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The colonists boycotted...refused to unload the tea from the ships
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Led to the Boston Tea Party
Coercive/Intolerable Acts
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Closed down state legislatures
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Closed down Boston Harbor
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The Quartering Act
So...why would any colonist NOT
want to fight?
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Remember, they were FROM Britain
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Tradition of loyalty to the British crown
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Family ties
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Hope for a peaceful negtotiation
Patrick Henry’s Speech
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This man’s goal was to PERSUADE colonists on the fence to FIGHT
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Virginia Convention of 1775
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He constructed a speech that used powerful rhetorical devices to
convince his audience. How?
Using Argumentative Appeals
*Write this down!*
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Logos - Appeals to LOGIC
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Appealing to rationality - this may include facts, statistics, logical
reasoning, etc.
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“We should go to war because the British are taxing us too
much. It is bad for the economy.”
Argumentative Appeals,
Continued…
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Pathos - Appeals to EMOTION
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Appealing to the audience’s feelings - in persuasive speeches,
authors often evoke strong emotions like anger, fear, pride, hope,
etc.
✤
“We should go to war because we have to house and feed
British soldiers – doesn’t that make you ANGRY?”
Argumentative Appeals,
Continued…
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Ethos - Appeals to ETHICS
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Appealing to the audience’s sense of what is moral and right OR
appealing to credibility…why can we TRUST that this is the right
thing to do/believe?
“We should go to war because we need to fight for the principles of
liberty and justice!”
Let’s Practice...
Logos
(LOGIC)
Ethos (ETHICS/
CREDIBILITY)
Pathos
(EMOTION)
Persuasive Techniques
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Elevated Language
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Rhetorical Questions
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Formal words and phrases can lend a serious tone to discussion,
when appropriate.
These are questions that don’t require answers. Writers pose
these questions to show that their arguments make the answers
obvious.
Repetition
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Repeating a point tells the audience that it is especially important;
repeating a form of expression (parallelism) tells the audience that
the ideas expressed in the same way are related.
Let’s Practice