USA HISTORY

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1775 1783

THOMAS PAINES COMMON SENSE

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Why was it such a difficult decision to sign the Declaration of Independence?
A
You could be hanged for being a traitor to England.
B
They couldn’t agree on who should write it.
C
Either A or B
D
None of the above
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -The committee included Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Robert Livingston, one of the members of the committee who wrote the Declaration of Independence, never signed it. He believed that it was too soon to declare independence and therefore refused to sign.

Detailed explanation-2: -In the British press, the publications that discussed the Declaration generally reacted with contempt toward the ideology expressed by its preamble, and anger at the ingratitude showed by the colonists toward their king.

Detailed explanation-3: -The introductory sentence states the Declaration’s main purpose, to explain the colonists’ right to revolution. In other words, “to declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Congress had to prove the legitimacy of its cause. It had just defied the most powerful nation on Earth.

Detailed explanation-4: -The British Government did its best to dismiss the Declaration as a trivial document issued by disgruntled colonists. British officials commissioned propagandists to highlight the declaration’s flaws and to rebut the colonists’ complaints.

There is 1 question to complete.