…As to government matters, it is not in the power
of Britain to do this continent justice: the business
of it will soon be too weighty and intricate to be
managed with any tolerable degree of convenience,
by a power so distant from us, and so very ignorant
of us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot
govern us. To be always running three or four
thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting
four or five months for an answer, which, when
obtained, requires five or six more to explain it in,
will in a few years be looked upon as folly and
childishness. There was a time when it was proper,
and there is a proper time for it to cease.…
— Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776


What is the main argument Thomas Paine makes
concerning the relationship between Great
Britain and its American colonies?
(1) Britain wants to make America a part of the
European continental system.
(2) America is too distant for Great Britain to
govern effectively.
(3) America lacks representation in Parliament.
(4) American colonial leaders believe British
officials want to use them to fight European
wars.