First of all... what period? because if you are talking about this time, I think it is becaise they want to feel powerful to be able to have more allied countries in any situation, they also do it because they want to control most of the world natural sources that other countries have.
Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–76 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government.
No, they are based on Latin.
The two main reasons why Douglass opposed John Brown in his plan to raid Harpers ferry is because first he was sure that the plan would fail and thus it would lead to many black deaths. The second reason is that Douglas thought that this plan would hurt the abolition movement due to a backlash.