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Copyright 2007 New Jersey Newspaper Foundation.
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Excerpts from Common Sense
There is something absurd,
in supposing a continent to be perpetually
governed by an island.
Where, instead of gazing at
each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity,
let each of us hold out to his neighbor the
hearty hand of friendship, and united in drawing
a line, which like an act of oblivious, shall
bury in forgetfulness every former dissention].
And let none other be heard among us, than those
of a good citizen; an open and resolute friend;
and a virtuous supporter of the rights of mankind
and of the free and independent states of
America.
In free countries the law
ought to be king ... a government of our own is
our natural right.
The sun never shone on a
cause of greater worth. Now is the seedtime of
continental union, faith and honor. This new
world hath been the asylum for the persecuted
lovers of civil and religious liberty from every
part of Europe. The time hath found us. We have
it in our power to begin the world over again.
The birthday of a new world is at hand,
independence is the only bond that tie and keep
us together.
The King is not to be
trusted without being looked after. The less
business there is for a king, of more worth is
one honest man to society.
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