Question:
Read this excerpt from the preamble of the declaration of independence:
<em>"prudence, indeed, will dictate that government long established should not be changed for lights and transient causes"</em>
How does the author appeal to ethos here?
Answer:
To fully understand the excerpt, one would have to make recourse to the full text to understand it's context.
The Declaration states thereafter
"<em>and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government"</em>
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In other words, though an older government is better, if it abuses the people, and does not pursue equal opportunity but rather practices Despotism, then regardless of how old the government is, it must be done away with.
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Thus, Ethos (which also refers to a set of attitudes and values) is the object of this argument. It can be inferred from the excerpt that the writers value:
- an older government to a younger inexperienced one
- a younger inexperienced government to an older but dysfunctional or diseased one
- a government that gives equal opportunity and rewards people based on merit rather than one that practices despotism.
- a government that does not abuse its powers
Cheers!
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