The Voice of a New Nation - Mastery Test

What argument does the author counter in this excerpt from Thomas Paine's Common Sense? I have heard it asserted by some, that as America has flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. 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.

Britain does not provide adequate resources for the growing colonies in America.

In this analogy, Paine uses an analogy to refute a common loyalists claim. What claim does Paine refute?

Britain should govern American colonies because the colonist are of English descent

What rhetorical effect does the personification have in the following excerpt from the Declaration of Independence?

It effectively enhances the logos and ethos of the argument

assent

acceptance

neglect

ignore

Which words in this excerpt from the Declaration of Independence are emotionally charged?

magnanimity, usurpations, justice

tryant

oppressor

Which two sentences in the excerpt form common sense by Thomas Paine indicate that great Britain protected the american colonies for mutual gain?

second sentence in the first and second paragraph (that she hath engrossed us is true, and defended the continent at our expense as well as her own is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, viz., the sake of trade and dominion) (we have boasted the protection of Great Britain, without considering, that her motive was interest not attachment.)

relinquish

surrender

What is the purpose of a counterargument in a persuasive text?

to respectfully address any doubts or objections to the claim