Answer: I would contend that the right answer is the C) the persuasion toward action.
Explanation: Just to elaborate a little bit on the answer, it can be added that a revolution is an uprising or a popular revolt. Therefore, when Paine is very persuasively saying "unless something excites it to action," it is possible to infer that his text is from the Revolutionary period, during which Americans opposed the high taxes that the British imposed on the products they consumed, and, eventually, their control of their land.
