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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for independence.
As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the time,
let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of things,
and endeavour, if possible, to find out the VERY time. But we need not
go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the TIME HATH FOUND US.
The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things prove the fact.
It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies;
yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world.
The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and
disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived at that
pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support itself,
Common Sense |
