The Following Questions Refer to the Excerpt Below

The following questions refer to the excerpt below.
"With a good deal of surprise I have observed that little notice has been taken of an act of Parliament...If the Parliament may lawfully deprive New York of any of her rights,it may deprive any or all the other colonies of their rights;and nothing can possibly so much encourage such attempts as a mutual inattention to the interest of each other.To divide and thus to destroy is the first political maxim in attacking those who are powerful by their union.He certainly is not a wise man who folds his arms and reposes himself at home,seeing with unconcern the flames that have invaded his neighbor's house without using any endeavors to extinguish them."
Letter from a Pennsylvania Farmer,The Boston Chronicle,1767
-Which of the following best explains the colonists' eventual decision to declare independence from the British in the wake of publications like this one?

A) By 1776, colonists perceived the British government as being abusive of the colonists' rights as English citizens.
B) Following the Seven Years' War, the colonists perceived themselves as a vital part of the British Empire.
C) In the late eighteenth century, the colonists felt secure in their economic well-being.
D) By the time of the publication of this work, the colonies nearly unanimously supported the notion of independence.