If Britain cannot conquer us, it proves that she is neither able to govern nor protect us, and our particular situation now is such, that any connection with her would be unwisely exchanging a half-defeated enemy for two powerful ones.
In "The American Crisis," Paine argues that Britain's inability to conquer the colonies demonstrates its unfitness to govern them, making continued connection dangerous.
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The more it is struck the more sparks it will emit; and the fear is it will not be struck enough.
It was a sort of new form of government that insensibly served to put the old one out of sight and to unhinge it from the superstitious authority of antiquity.
The Aristocracy had hitherto opposed the despotism of the Court, and affected the language of patriotism; but it opposed it as its rival (as the English Barons opposed King John) and it now opposed the nation from the same motives.