Read the quotation from The Crisis, Number IV.“It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same.”Which phrase best describes the “cause” that Paine refers to?

Paine says the struggle is about more than winning a particular piece of land or a single battle; it is about a larger cause. In the context of the American Revolution, that cause was independence and freedom from oppressive British rule. Therefore, “freedom from an oppressive government” is the best description.

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