1. Preparing people for the new ideas in the Declaration.
<em>Common Sense</em> by Thomas Paine was a pamphlet written to support and popularize the idea of independence in the Thirteenth Colonies. It was extremely popular at the time, and helped popularize many of the ideas of independence that were later included in the Declaration. It was written in clear and persuasive prose, and therefore, was accessible to a large number of people.
2. In the past, many immigrants had come from northern and western Europe.
A simple sentence is one which only contains one clause, and expresses a complete thought. It is an independent clause and contains a subject and a verb. It also does not include any subordinate clauses.