Option 2“’Tis repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to all examples from former ages, to suppose thatthis Continent can long remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain doth not think so.The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this time, compass a plan, short of separation, which canpromise the continent even a year’s security. Reconciliation is now a fallacious dream. Nature hath desertedthe connection, and art cannot supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, ‘never can true reconcilementgrow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep.’A government of our own is our natural right: and when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness ofhuman affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own ina cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time andchance.”— Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776“It now behooves us well to consider, whether it were better to enter the harbour of peace with Great Britain, orplunge the ship into all the horrors of war.— Of civil war. As peace and a happy extension of commerce, areobjects infinitely better for Great Britain, than war and a diminution of her commerce. It therefore is her interestto grant us every species of indulgence, consistent with our constitutional dependence, should war continue,there can be no doubt of annihilation of our ships, ports and commerce, by Great Britain. . . .If my remarks are
