Read the quotation from Common Sense, and then answer the question. What is the message of the quotation? Becoming independent i
sn’t necessary for the colonists to do. Independence is something the colonists will never achieve. The colonists will not feel right or well until they declare independence. Until an independence is declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity. –Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
The message in the quotation is that a colonist will never feel the need for independence unless something changes within him and becomes uneasy and unpleasant to live with that feeling that something must be done about it. A colonist will never feel the necessity for independence, only free men feel it.
