What rhetorical effect does the personification of the word Prudence have in the following excerpt from the Declaration of Independence?

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; 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.

Question

Elliana Keith

English

7 May, 22:51

What rhetorical effect does the personification of the word Prudence have in the following excerpt from the Declaration of Independence?

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; 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.

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Miya Moody · Answer 1

By giving the term "prudence" a personality, the Declaration of Independence calls for people to practice or exercise the virtue of prudence.

Prudence is synonymous to good judgement. Thus, people should exercise good judgement before changing things in the government that will have a long-term result based on a short-term idea that may change in any given time.