Question

Read the excerpt below and answer the question.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
The excerpt above uses which of the following rhetorical devices?

allusion
ethos
pathos
metonymy

Answer 1

The answer is "Ethos", because it symbolizes the principles that characterize a community, or nation.

Answer 2

Answer: allusion

Explanation: In this excerpt from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, what President Lincoln the rhetoric device that is used is an allusion. An allusion is a reference to an event or a person that the speaker thinks it is relevant for what he is referring to. The 87 years refer to 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Gettysburg Address was delivered in 1863, in Soldier's National Cemetery, a cemetery dedicated for Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.