Persuasive– the power or tendency to convince someone.
A metric for determining success of a great political orator is their persuasive abilities. Virginia’s Patrick Henry is a historic example of a great political orator who could persuade his colleagues.
On March 23, 1775, Henry rose in the Second Virginia Convention and gave one of the most remembered and most honored speeches in American history. Henry ended with this-
“It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
Bob Deans, writing in The River Where America Began, describes Parick Henry’s famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech” this way; “It is known beyond doubt that the speech was persuasive in a sharply divided body with more than its share of fence-sitters.”