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Thomas Paine -- Common Sense
Thomas Paine wrote "Common Sense" as an argument for American independence from Great Britain.
Paine begins his essay with general reflections concerning government. He begins the second paragraphs with "Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one" (Paine pp). With this statement Paine is appealing to the masses by laying out his general view of government, assuring them that yes, it would be ideal to live without government, yet in reality impossible, however, it is not necessary to tolerate one in which treats its citizens unfairly. Paine continues, "for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer" (Paine pp). In this first section, Paine is basically building his case for advocating rebellion later on in the essay.
In the second section, Paine elaborates on the distinctions between kings and subjects, saying that distinctions of nature are understandable,...
Paine goes on to describe how according to the scripture chronology, "In the early ages of the world, there were no kings, the consequence of which was there were no wars, it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion" (Paine pp). He then paints a scenario in which people who have been placed on an island without contact to the rest of society, would in time create bonds with each other and eventually develop a system of authority and law based on the groups needs. He believe that people are more content and happier as a whole if they themselves are responsible for implementing the laws that govern them. He uses examples such as, "Holland without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any of the monarchical governments in Europe" (Paine pp). Here he is arguing that such a system would also be better for the colonists as well, thus, prepping the reader for independence.
In the third section,…
Work Cited
Paine, Thomas. Common Sense. Bartleby.com http://www.bartleby.com/133/0.html
Paine's decision to write of high philosophical and political issues in common speech, and of used "graphic metaphors and his simple sentence structure [to] reflect a language understood at the time by common Americans," (Moss & Wilson, ed) has much the same purpose as a translation of the Bible from Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic into Latin, which is to say the need to initiate common people into profound truths. Paine
Moreover Thomas made people realize that kings are the cause of all wars with his evidence from the Bible: In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion." (Thomas Paine) Thomas was an expert in reaching down to the souls of common man and
Common Sense & Fed # Thomas Paine: Common Sense Thomas Paine argues in Common Sense that America should declare independence from Great Britain because submission to, or dependence on, Great Britain tends to directly involve the colonies in European wars and quarrels and sets them at odds with nations that would otherwise "seek our friendship, and against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint."[footnoteRef:1] [1: Thomas Paine, "Common Sense." Constitution Society (1776).
Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors (Paine). Democracy, the republic, voting, the Supreme Court, debate, etc. are no longer foreign concepts -- the great American "experiment" of 1776 still exists, so contemporary readers do not find issues of individual liberty and law to be either controversial or strange. Common Sense was a seminal event in the way the entire
Throughout the duration of the war, Paine was responsible for publishing a series of propaganda pieces which were published in the Crisis. In these, he often addressed the British Crown and warned of the Americans' united spirit: "In all the wars which you have formerly been concerned in you had only armies to contend with; in this case, you have both an army and a country to combat with,"
Common Sense as a Formal Rejection of Monarchy America's fight for independence would emerge quite naturally out of the needs of its people to establish a form of governance, of economy and of society reflective of the demands created by the path of development of the colonies. Its people would be assisted in their ascent to this revolt by no small degree of propaganda, which would help to represent the trespasses