Question

Read the following sentence by Thomas Jefferson that he wrote as Congress was considering the Declaration of Independence and separating from England. Use the context to determine the meaning and a dictionary to confirm your understanding.
"The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many."

The word pusillanimous most likely means _____.

hopeful
cowardly
brave
frightening

Answer 1

It would be frightening because it best fits the sentence and also because of the phrase still haunted the minds of many.

Answer 2

The correct answer is B) cowardly.

The word pusillanimous most likely means cowardly.

When Thomas Jefferson expressed: "The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many," he tried to say that the coward idea of thinking that they had friends was out of his mind.

Thomas Jefferson helped elaborate the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, during the Revolutionary War years. He received the help of the Committee formed by Robert Livingstone, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and John Adams. Jefferson was inspire3d bye the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason.