The statement that best describes Thomas Paine's argument in this excerpt from Common Sense is that he strongly contends that America's previous prosperity under British rule does not necessitate a continuation of that relationship for future success. He uses analogies to illustrate that just as a child's diet can evolve beyond milk, America's growth and enrichment can continue independently of European powers. Paine asserts that America has the potential to thrive even more without the constraints of British connection, emphasizing that her commerce will continue to be valuable irrespective of foreign influence.
Which statement best describes Thomas Paine's argument in this excerpt from Common Sense?
I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connection with Great Britain that the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched herself, are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.
1 answer
5 answers