The convulsions of Europe might have thrown her from one conqueror to another, till she had been the slave of all, and ruined by every one; for until she had spirit enough to become her own master, there was no knowing to which master she should belong.
Paine asserts in "The American Crisis" that America's only path to avoiding subjugation by European powers is to achieve self-mastery.
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It was become evident, that no constitution, worthy of being called by that name, could be established on anything less than a national ground.
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It has nothing to dread from attacks; truth has given it an establishment, and time will record it with a name as lasting as his own.