Which statement, if true, would most strongly support the claim in th… | Verbal SAT Question

Narratives of American revolutionary history often imply that the US Declaration of Independence (published in 1776) was a document that specifically resulted from the presumably exceptional nature of the soon-to-be United States-in this interpretation, the Declaration is a singular instrument born from a response to injustice that was intended to announce the birth of a new kind of nation and win foreign allies to that nation’s cause. But this interpretation neglects to place the Declaration in the larger context of eighteenth-century Western political philosophy-the Declaration was only one of several significant works published during 1776, a remarkable year for political thought.

Which statement, if true, would most strongly support the claim in the underlined portion?

In 1776, the English historian Edward Gibbon began publishing The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a work whose novel theories of empire collapse proved politically influential.

In late 1776, Benjamin Franklin traveled to France to seek French support for the American cause, eventually leading to France providing both military and financial aid to the Americans.

Newspapers in 1776 were often read aloud in public places, ensuring that even those who did not read newspapers themselves could still knowledgeably participate in political discussions.

George Campbell’s The Philosophy of Rhetoric, a highly influential attempt to develop a foundational theory of how humans communicate, was published in 1776.