Read this excerpt from the Declaration of Independence: We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations... Which of these rhetorical devices is most clearly used here?

Question

Read this excerpt from the Declaration of Independence: We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations... Which of these rhetorical devices is most clearly used here? 
A. Kairos 
B. Inductive reasoning 
C. Ethos 
D. Parallelism

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The rhetorical device most clearly used in the excerpt is **C. Ethos**. Ethos refers to the credibility or ethical appeal of the speaker, and in this excerpt, the authors are establishing their moral stance and appealing to shared values and kinship to strengthen their argument against what they perceive as unjust usurpations. They invoke "native justice and magnanimity" and the "ties of our common kindred," which reflects an appeal to their shared ethics and values as a basis for their argument.