The rhetorical device used in the line "...may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge." is simile. This is because it compares the act of sweeping away liberties to a deluge using the word "like," which is characteristic of similes.
from "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance. If we omit it now, some Massanello may hereafter arise, who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge. What rhetorical device is being used in the following line from "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine? "...may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge." metaphor simile allusion
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