the road ended in vandalia, Illinois
I'm gonna guess you said manchuria, or China, or Russia.
In which case, Japan invades China in 1937. Starting the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Yes because Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense which actually inspired the Declaration of independence . Thomas Jefferson used it as a template when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, distilling many of Paine's ideas -- the natural dignity of humanity, the right to self determination.