Read the passage. excerpt from "give me liberty, or give me death! " by patrick henry i have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. i know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. and judging by the past, i wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the british ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been to solace themselves, and the house? refer to explorations in literature for a complete version of this speech. which statement best describes patrick henry's use of ethos in this excerpt? he explains that he is simply one of the people, which builds a connection with listeners. he exaggerates his qualifications and experience to manipulate his audience. he diminishes the importance of his past, reinforcing the idea that they are all americans now. he uses his past experiences to establish his authority.