My endeavor was to have the matter well understood on both sides, and I conceived myself tendering a general service, by setting forth to the one the impossibility of being conquered, and to the other the impossibility of conquering.
Paine explains his objective in writing, which was to clarify the futility of the American Revolutionary War for both sides.
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As to what are called national religions, we may, with as much propriety, talk of national Gods.
Where these can have the opportunity of acting, opposition dies with fear, or crumbles away by conviction.
When men unite in agreeing that a thing is good, could it be obtained, such for instance as relief from a burden of taxes and the extinction of corruption, the object is more than half accomplished.
It serves to keep up deceitful expectations which prevent people from looking into the defects and abuses of government.