Read the following passage and choose the option (A, B, C or D) that best answers each of the questions below.
A LETTER TO THE KING
American colonists were not given a chance to participate in government decisions in England.
The colonists were divided. Loyalists wanted the colonies to stay part of England. Patriots wanted America to be established as an independent nation.
The Patriots decided that it was time to send a letter to the king. They wanted to make an official declaration, or statement, of independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote the group's ideas into a letter to King George III. Jefferson explained why the colonists believed they no longer had to listen to his authority. By signing the Declaration of independence, the men were risking their lives if the colonies lost the war. They signed it anyway.
