Read this passage from the book The History of the United States. What is true about the main idea of this paragraph? The evolution of American democracy into a government by public opinion, enlightened by the open discussion of political questions, was in no small measure aided by a free press. That too, like education, was a matter of slow growth. A printing press was brought to Massachusetts in 1639, but it was put in charge of an official censor and limited to the publication of religious works. Forty years elapsed before the first newspaper appeared, bearing the curious title, Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic, and it had not been running very long before the government of Massachusetts suppressed it for discussing a political question.

It is stated: The American government depended on a free press.

It is implied: The press should be controlled by the government.

It is implied: America’s free press was not as important as education was.

It is stated: America’s free press grew slowly.