Reread paragraph 14 from “Conservation as a National Duty” by Theodore Roosevelt.



[14] When the founders of this nation met at Independence Hall in Philadelphia the conditions of commerce had not fundamentally changed from what they were when the Phoenician keels first furrowed the lonely waters of the Mediterranean.



What is the gist or main idea of this paragraph from the speech?

A. When the founders met at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, they discussed all the changes that had occurred in the nation since the founding.

B. When the forefathers founded American, there had not been radical changes in commerce, and there were still areas of land and sea that were untouched.

C. From the Phoenician keels to the Mediterranean, the waterways had come to America.

D. The conditions of commerce in our nation had progressed rapidly since the founding of the nation.