In Common Sense, Paine makes the point that just because America once benefited from its relationship with Great Britain, people should not assume America cannot be successful without this support.

What reasoning does Paine use to support this point?

"Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care."

"We may as well assert, that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat; or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty."

"Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between England and America."

"Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America."​