Compare And Contrast Martin Luther King Jr And Thomas Paine

America’s pavement of growth throughout history to today’s present day has changed immensely, and we the people are responsible for its shape and development. We all are America’s history; we are the endless cycle of the ruins and rebirths, and the sum of the good and the bad that have occurred. We are the narrators of the vast and small achievements that have molded our civilization. Our sums or products help guide our actions for the present. History simply repeats itself; if we do not learn from our mistakes, then we are bound to create them again. Throughout America’s growth, there were two different men almost two hundred years apart in which history had obeyed, and they still serve as an inspiration for today’s nation, Thomas Paine and Martin Luther King Jr. They both were an important voice for America during their time periods, and helped guide everyone to achieve their own version of America’s dream. Despite the time periods and slight differences about their goals and dreams,

their methods for bringing change and achieving them are almost identical and similar.
To begin, Thomas Paine was an 18th century American English writer and pamphleteer that greatly influenced the American Revolution.

With his many writing he wrote, The Age of Reason, The American Crisis, and Common Sense. Common Sense was one of Paine's most popular and influential pieces that brought together his ideas to the public to show that their independence from the British was essential. It was written in a forceful style to show the issue to strive for complete independence for the Colonies. The piece sold more than 100,000 copies, and it helped pave the way for the Declaration of Independence. Further on during the Revolution, Paine wrote The American Crisis. It argued for American independence and revolution, and antagonized any course of actions with Britain. Paine had changed the view of what independence meant. He was able to associate his beliefs and ideas of freedom that grasped everyone in the colonies. Paine’s Crisis encouraged and helped finish the

Revolution.
After the Revolution, Paine fled to England, where he encountered the French Revolution. He had read Edmund Burke’s reflections on it which inspired him to write a book in response defending the revolution and ordered that man was bound to no hereditary rulers. The British government disapproved and banned the book and Paine was indicted for treason. While his surge for the revolution, Paine supported to try and save the life of Louis XVI but this angered extremists, and Paine was sent to prison. While Paine was in prison, he had written part of The Age of Reason and published it. It disapproves organized religion for corruption and political success, and questions the genuineness of the Bible. The book stirred up controversy, and the British government indicted anyone who tried to publish it. During Paine’s final years and after his release from prison, he returned to the United States to find that all his work, power, and character had been shattered leaving him to outlive his time.