Read the quotation from Common Sense, and then answer the question. What is the message of the quotation? Becoming independent isn’t necessary for the colonists to do. Independence is something the colonists will never achieve. The colonists will not feel right or well until they declare independence. Until an independence is declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity. –Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776