“ To unite the sinews of commerce and defense is sound policy; for when our strength and our riches play into each other’s hand, we need fear no external enemy. ”
Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776). copy citation
| Author | Thomas Paine |
|---|---|
| Source | Common Sense |
| Topic | strength defense |
| Date | 1776 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/147/147-h/147-h.htm |
Context
“If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ in their service ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty guns, (the premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the merchants) fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on constant duty, would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without burdening ourselves with the evil so loudly complained of in England, of suffering their fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks. To unite the sinews of commerce and defense is sound policy; for when our strength and our riches play into each other’s hand, we need fear no external enemy. 123 In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even to rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior to that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world.”
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