Fallacy in Patrick Henry's "Speech to the Virginia Convention"

"There is no retreat but in submission in slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be head on the plains of Boston!"

This quote commits the fallacy of excluded middle. The fallacy of excluded middle is when only two alternatives are considered, in this case, there is 1. America fights in order to obtain freedom and 2. America submits to being enslaved by the British.

Even though Henry's speech commits fallacies, it still is extremely effective and famous because of the passion and fervor that he used to deliver it. One must also consider the time when the speech was delivered. Though many senators were speaking of reasoning, when Henry described how the British would enslave them, the evidence of treating the colonists as dirt was known, and experienced, by everybody. By only giving the possibility of two extremes, it not only instilled fear into the convention, but also seemed to give the convention an ultimatum that seemingly couldn't be ignored.