The work inspired colonists to join the cause for independence. The following excerpts show Paine's economic reasons for supporting independence. Read the following and answer the question that follows. I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath fourished under her former connection with Great Britain, the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect.
Nothing can be more fallacious than thi s kind of argument.
We may as well assert that because a child has thriven upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation to show a single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived.