"The Cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind." – Thomas Paine, Common Sense "Tyranny is so generally established in the rest of the world that the prospect of an asylum in America for those who love liberty gives general joy, and our cause is esteemed the cause of all mankind... "We are fighting for the dignity and happiness of human nature. Glorious it is for the Americans to be called by Providence to this post of honour. Cursed and detested will everyone be that deserts or betrays it." – Benjamin Franklin "Our Revolution is an important event for the advantage of mankind in general." – Benjamin Franklin "I sincerely pray that all the members of the human family may, in the time prescribed by the Father of us all, find themselves securely established in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and happiness." – Thomas Jefferson "The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom... 'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now." – Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776) "To see it in our power to make a world happy, to teach mankind the art of being so, to exhibit on the theater of the universe a character hitherto unknown, and to have, as it were, a new creation entrusted to our hands are honors that command reflection and can neither be too highly estimated nor too gratefully received." – Thomas Paine, The American Crisis: XIII (1783) The physical reality of America is her natural environment, the land of our fathers. The word patriot derives from pater, Greek for "father."