Read the sentence from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Hearing their conversations, and their accounts of the approbation their papers were received with, I was excited to try my hand among them; but, being still a boy, and suspecting that my brother would object to printing anything of mine in his paper if he knew it to be mine, I contrived to disguise my hand, and, writing an anonymous paper, I put it in at night under the door of the printing-house.

What does the use of the word anonymous suggest?

Select the two correct answers.

Franklin does not take credit for his writing.

Franklin lacks talent and experience as a writer.

Franklin fears his writing is not good enough to be printed.

Franklin wants to hide his identity as the writer of the paper.

Read the sentence from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct.

Which saying from Poor Richard’s Almanac conveys a similar message?

“Well done is better than well said.”

“Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.”

“‘Tis easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.”

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.”

In Common Sense, Paine asserts that Great Britain has ignored American efforts to coexist fairly and peacefully, so Americans have no choice but to fight for independence.

What reasoning does Paine use to support this point?

“I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, that the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect."

“Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe; because it is the interest of all Europe to have America a free port.”

“Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge.…”

“Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses of Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, Come, we shall be friends again for all this.”

Read the excerpt from Common Sense.

Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home pursues their descendants still.…

How does Paine’s style contribute to the persuasiveness of the text?

He refers to America as “the asylum for the persecuted” to warn readers not to trust any form of government, new or old.

Paine warns readers their freedom is in danger by comparing Great Britain’s actions to the “cruelty of the monster.”

He asserts that Europe is the “parent country” to suggest readers owe their allegiance to several foreign governments.

Paine reminds readers of the advantages of British rule by comparing it to “the tender embraces of the mother.”

Which detail from The American Crisis develops the key idea that people have a duty to act in the present to improve society for generations to come?

“Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, ‘If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace’…”

“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.”

“It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all.”

“Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.”