The Second Virginia Convention was held at St. John's Church in Richmond on March 23, 1775. Patrick Henry advocated that a volunteer mercenary should be organized and armed in every county of Virginia to defend themselves from Great Britain. Henry was a straight-to-the-point guy. Henry opens with an acknowledgment of the men who disagree with him. He says he has mad respect for them, but they're still wrong. The American colonies were facing some difficulties and if he did not express his opinion, he would feel that he was in the wrong. Now we come to Henry's main point. Hoping for peace is great. However, the colonies have been trying to do this for ten years, and it hasn't worked. Fighting for peace is the only way to achieve it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay They have no choice. If they want freedom, they will have to fight for it, and if they fight, they may die. But life without freedom is no way to live, so give me freedom or give me death. Patrick Henry exposes the hard truth: Britain will not offer freedom and respect until it is needed. The colonists must be willing to fight and die for it. Henry's main point, though, is that if the colonies want freedom from Britain, they will have to fight for it. They have tried and failed by every other means to gain freedom, and the English are on the ground. At this point, the only way out is through the medium where Henry and his friends could die fighting. Henry addresses his speech to the convention chairman, Peyton Randolph. They hear some compliments to those who disagree with Henry and think more diplomacy is needed before taking up arms. He says they're good guys. Then Henry says they're wrong... and that if he hadn't said something, he'd be wrong too. We criticized the war and all the acts of Britain which we claimed were done out of love. The speaker thought otherwise. Britain, as he said, treated them as subordinates and not as equals. It spread to their country and Americans had no choice from the beginning. Peaceful discussions and disagreements had not saved them in past years. Allowing themselves to be losers, meanwhile, was simply unfortunate for their sides. In his speech Henry had convinced Virginia that all the actions they had taken to achieve peace had not worked, do not work and never will work. The solution he saw was to fight, and fight not soon but now. The battle, as he said, was to be strong, alert, active and courageous with God on your side. From everything that had happened, he foresaw the coming of war and instead of fear, he encouraged his brothers to embrace it. He concluded his famous speech with the equally famous quote: “I know not what course others might take; but as for me, give me freedom or give me death!” The audience greeted his speech with the same shout. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Henry knows that "they" say that the American colonies are not strong enough to face the Great War. Great Britain. But he also knows that the colonies aren't getting stronger by sitting around thinking about it. And it's not like they'll get stronger if they just wait for Britain to deploy its forces everywhere. Henry thinks that if the colonists use their resources wisely, everything will be fine. Cue "Nothing will stop us now!" However, God is on the side of the settlers. Henry throws shade at the other convention members. It concludes.