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Thomas paine and the american revolution essay
Thomas Paine's Common Sense (essay)
Thomas Paine's Common Sense (essay)
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The immediate sensation of 1776, Common Sense, a pamphlet by Thomas Paine, had given the urge to many Americans at the time to fight for their independence. January, 10 1776, the pamphlet was published at around the begging of the American Revolution and had hit all of the colonies. It was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. Even George Washington had read it to all his troops, which at the time had surrounded the British army in Boston. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time (2.5 million), it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history. Paine wrote this pamphlet into four sections: Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution; Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession; Thoughts on Present State of American Affairs; On the Present Ability of America, with some Miscellaneous Reflections.
Thomas Paine begins the first section of the pamphlet distinguishing the differences between society and government. “Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: 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.” In other words, Paine is saying that society is everything good of which the people accomplish together and government has its origins in the evil of man and is therefore a necessary evil at best. Paine says that government's main purpose is to protect life, liberty and property, and that a government should be judged to which it accomp...
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...his uprising and rebel against the British rule. These motives consisted of: No other country will be willing to help the colonists if America is seen as a part of Britain; both thriving countries, France and Spain will not aid the colonies if they believe that their help will be used by America to repair relations with England; other countries will see the colonies as enemies if they are still part of Britain; and by declaring independence, the colonies could begin to profit from international alliances and trade, of which Britain would not allow. Paine ends with a metaphor of the colonies if they do not take action immediately; “the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.”
Paine’s use of language to appeal both to his reader’s reason and emotion has given him the advantage of creating an emotional connection between himself and the reader, attempting to raise their spirits and show them what could be, while also asking them to put their own minds to the problem at hand. Asking them to make sense of their current situation. He gives hope and then appeals to their ability to discern what is best for their new world. By doing this, he has presented reason after reason for them to declare independence before he practically turned to them and said “Don’t you think so?” the only ‘reasonable’ answer would at that point be, “Yes of course Mr. Paine you’re completely right!”
Government, according to Paine, is a means of regulating societies’ sins. By portraying “society” as a form of prosperity, the reader gains an insight into his claim. Furthermore, Paine’s interpretation of society is a means of survival, a way for people to work together and prosper. However, in order for Paine to persuade the audience he relates their reasoning. “Let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will then represent the first people of any country, or of the world....
“Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices.” (Pg 2, P1) Paine states that with the society and the existence of a government, this allows the society to live happily and united. The existence of a government will also be able to control a society with rules to live by and keeping the community safe. Paine demonstrates that the existence of the government system is indeed a positive necessity to have within a
Paine dwells on the differences between government and society. He stresses greatly on the fact that a government should be able to protect its society. Giving life and liberty to its people. He also points out that, Britain is the main cause of enemy to the Americas. Expressing disagreement with the British in American, he criticized the British government. He believes that the monarchy has too much power and their system is unreasonable. Paine complicates matters further when he writes, that the Americans are not British anymore. It is not British in a sense that it is so diverse, with different types of Europeans. In Paine’s views Britain is not a mother country, since it imposes harsh treatments and is in a war too often. The idea of best interest was important to Paine. In his views, Britain sees the Americas as profitable institutions to control and gains riches from, as opposed to the development and freedom of the nations. Independence from Britain was one of many ideas of this pamphlet. “Common Sense”, essentially pointed out the reasons why the colonies should leave the British and form a new government. His views on government inspired “Limited government” and “natural laws”, which gives citizens more control on how they shape their local environment and
To reinforce, while Adams is interested in building America’s government, Paine is still trying delegitimizing all government and bringing about Lockean natural law. Which during the revolution was necessary but is also the key reason for his almost exile to France during the drawing up of the American constitution.
The language used in Common Sense is that of a leader hoping to inspire his followers to heed his warning and answer his call. Paine's audience was the people of the colonies, he wanted them to realize that the oppression of the crown has not limit and sure there were benefits of belonging to the crown, there were far more oppression beyond measure that comes with such benefits.
His purpose was to ramp up the colonist to break away from Britain. Even in his intro he has already started to express the need to stop these issue, “As a long and violent abuse of power is generally the means of calling the right of it in question, (and in matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry,) and as the king of England hath undertaken in his own right, to support the parliament in what he calls theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpations of either.” Paine's attack on monarchy in Common Sense is essentially an attack on George
Paine believed that America needed to break free of the British clutches. He spoke out against slavery and joined the army to help fight the war. He did not agree with hereditary monarchy and wrote another paper to argue this point (Franklin 321). Paine was very aware of his criticizers, and worked very hard to persuade them toward his way of thinking. In his pamphlet Common Sense he writes: "I have heard it asserted by some, that as America has flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect"(Paine 323). Paine states the following argument: ."..for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and proba...
What is the Common Good for All Americans? What was the common good for all Americans in 1776? Thomas Paine, a political activist during America’s struggle for independence from England, argues in Common Sense, a pamphlet published in the Pennsylvania Magazine, with the American colonists, demanding a revolt against the British crown (Thomas Paine). He passionately believes that the answer to the “.benefit of all people in [American] society” (Thomas Paine) will result from the freedom of oppression for the thirteen American colonies. Common Sense, “the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era”, remains noted by historians as one of the most influential pieces of literature during the era of the American Revolution that opened the gates to the ratification of the Declaration of Independence that 56 delegates signed on July 4, 1776, granting America’s freedoms from England (Thomas Paine).
Paine wanted to show others that there is more than one religion and one does not have to be so accustomed to a monarchy. Americans later fought for their independence and gained it once it was gained Americans succeeded from
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson appeals to patriotism. Jefferson ensures this by persuading the colonists to become self-governing. He tries to let all of the people of the New World understand that they have protested and defended themselves against the British for all of the corrupt acts the British have committed upon the colonists. Jefferson’s tone in the Declaration of Independence portrays how tiresome he has grown of the British rule after all of the deception towards Americans. Included within the idea of patriotism, is the idea of loyalty to the fundamental values and principles underlying American democracy. Thomas Paine also provides patriotism to get advocates for the movement to separate from the British forces. Correspondingly, Paine persuades Americans that they will prosper in numerous areas without the control of the British saying, “Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question is an independent, for independency means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws…” (Paine). Paine uses a demanding tone to convince Americans that if they should accept the ties with Britain, it will bring ruin and distress to the
Paine had not entertained the idea of independence from Britain when he arrived in America. He thought it was “a kind of treason” to break away from Britain. It was not until the Battle of Lexington in 1775 that he considered “the compact between Britain and America to be broken” (Claeys). This idea of a broken compact allowed Thomas Paine to write a political pamphlet.
He questioned the reason why the colonialists could not break ties with Britain. He highlighted all the hardships and believe by many that England and its monarch be believed and revered. Thomas Paine also incorporates religion into his style to all people to his viewpoint the king’s rule is unrighteous “ given us up to the devils” (Digital History). He also mentioned fear as a factor that Britain had employed in other parts, but he thanks God he knew the situation well (Digital History). A Thomas Paine argument was that colonialists should continue fighting even in the face of defeat because giving up would be a greater price pay. According to Thomas Paine, America “will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion.” and America will be in a “worse ruin than any we have yet thought of,” if the colonies don’t unite and continue fighting Britain. This point of view is helpful in understanding how his ideas worked to give an extra push for independence and foresee the crises that would come during the war.
It was only a matter of time until the colonist had enough of the governments crap for abusing the power that they were given. Great Britain was just using the colonies to make more money and the colonist thought they would be better off on their own then under Britain’s rule. Paine states, “Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported good must be paid for buy them where were will” (Common Sense p.24). Paine thought if the Americans had control over their ports then Great Britain had nothing to offer them anymore. With that, American was no longer just colonies; they had grown into something much greater, a self thriving country. America became a refuge for many types of European with different type of beliefs. Paine Strongly worded, “Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America” (Common Sense p.
In the pamphlet common sense Thomas Paine argues for American independence. His arguments starts with his view about the government, religions, and colonial situation. Paine then begins distinguishing between society and government. According to Paine society is when good and productive people join together to undertake different tasks. On the other hand, government is an organization whose only purpose is to protect us from our own sins. Paine goes on to say that even when the government is at its best it is still evil. Paine then comes up with a scenario about a group of people on an island being cut off from society. These people start making alliances with each other and lawmaking becomes unavoidable. On the other hand, Paine also argues that the representation of the system is also better for the American colonies. He talks about how he disagrees with the British system. For example, he states that it is too difficult and the monarchy is granted too much power. He goes on to say that the British system pretends to offer an acceptable system of checks and balances but in reality it is a scam.