Comparing Declaration Of Independence And Thomas Paine's Common Sense

The year is 1776, the Declaration of Independence has been written, signed, and approved. America was now a considered an independent nation. None of this would have happened if it were not for the many thoughts, ideas, and opinions shared in Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”. There are many similarities and very minimal differences between both the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” because Paine had published what most of the American colonists were all wanting, the Declaration of Independence solidified those ideas into a proclamation for Independence.
Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” expresses his want for America to receive independence from Britain. He mentions when God had gotten angry at the Jews because they had

wanted a King, this showed that God views the practice of monarchism as evil and sinful. Paine also described how Britain only kept the American colonists around to benefit the economic and trade success of themselves ("SparkNotes: Common Sense: Summary." ). This makes sense because the colonists had more land in order to obtain more raw materials to send over to England so they could make manufactured goods to make money off of. Most of Europe had filled their land with housing, factories and businesses. England saw America as an excellent place to obtain materials such as lumber and wool to make into industrialized good to make money off of. Paine said that if they had become independent from their parent country, they would be more successful as far as trade goes. If they were their own independent country, they would no longer be limited to trading with only England, they would now be able to trade with the rest of the world who had an increasing demand for their raw materials. In Thomas Paine’s document, he says that the government’s main job is to protect the life, liberty, and property of their citizens, and that the government should only be judged based on how well they accomplish this goal for their citizens. Paine also explains how the citizens could be made happy with government. Paine used an example of a group of citizens on an island by themselves, he says that they would have been much happier if they were living according to their own laws that they had created. The colonists were supposed to take this image into their own thoughts and imagine what life might be like if they were separated from the British monarchy and had their own government. ("SparkNotes: Common Sense: Summary." ). This document was important for all colonists to be aware of because many of them had been raised under the ideas that the British government must be respected and that they are superior to the colonial government. Paine challenged all colonists who may have read this document to establish a new colonial government and to urge the current government to break away from their parent country.
The Declaration of Independence shares many of the same ideas as Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” mostly because this document was inspired to be written after Paine had published his honest opinions of the British government having total control over the colonists.

Most colonists shared these ideas and felt there was a need to separate from the parent country because of how Britain had wronged the colonists. The Declaration of Independence outlines four major themes, equality, consent, duty, and the listing of the 26 charges against the monarchy of England. The theme of equality explains how every American citizen should have the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The British monarchy was not allowing the colonists to have these rights. They had controlled the colonist’s and their property similar to a dictatorship would. The pursuit of happiness meant the rights to property, and religion. For the British government to control them in such a manner would be contradicting what the colonists believed to be a fair and just government. The theme of consent heavily focused on the saying “majority rules”. If the government had unfairly taxed the colonists, they would then have the right to refuse them if the majority had ruled against the act of unfair taxation. Duty is barely mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, but is very important to the well-being of our nation. This theme explains that all citizens have a duty to protect the unalienable rights that

have been given to them by God. If a government decides to oppose these rights, the people need to stand up as a nation and protect their rights. Most of the Declaration of Independence focuses on outlining 26 different charges against the British monarchy for not being what a respectful government should be towards their citizens. (Westlund). Thomas Jefferson even went as far as writing that the citizens saw the Prince as a “Tyrant” ("The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription."). The listing of the 26 charges help explain what their government should not be modeled after. Some of the 26 charges include: leaving the colonies and starting a bloody war with them, making the colonies unable to trade with the rest of the world’s countries, taking away juries from government and criminal trials, and rejecting the suggested legislature of the colonists. It is commonly seen as the exact opposite of what a government should be. It may seem harsh to use these kinds of words towards the “parent” country, but it needed to be said for the British to understand how their citizens felt.
These two documents are extremely similar just based on the fact that the Declaration of Independence was inspired to be written by the thoughts expressed in Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”. They even share some of the same wording. The Declaration of Independence states that people have the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (which can also mean property). “Common Sense” says that the government’s job is to protect life, liberty, and property. They also both mention religion and how it is against the idea of being under the rule of the British monarchy. “Common Sense” brought up how God had opposed the idea of a monarchy, and the Declaration of Independence mentioned God 4 different times as 4 different titles: creator, supreme judge of the world, executor of provident protection, and nature’s legislature. The colonists clearly established in both “Common Sense” and the Declaration of Independence that they would now put only God first and thought of him as their one and only king, which was a jab to Britain’s government who had total control of the colonists from day one.
Although the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” are strikingly similar, there are distinct differences that can be found when digging deeper into the document and their authors.

The differences held between these two documents is solely based on who was writing the document and what their personal beliefs were. Both of these extremely influential authors were eventually known all over the world for the two writings that helped work towards the independence of America, but both of these authors had very different beginnings. The main author for the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, was an incredibly intelligent lawyer who excelled in school and had went on to go to William and Mary College. (William and Mary College was, and still is a very high ranked college in the state of Virginia.) Jefferson was actively involved in the government and was considered to be a very important and influential person to not only Americans, but even some European officials (“Thomas Jefferson.”). Thomas Paine was very different from Thomas Jefferson due to the fact that he had failed school and dropped out of it at only 12 years old. He had tried to get jobs, but had also failed at those. He was not nearly as successful as Thomas Jefferson. Later on in his life, he became a poor journalist who was writing for a living. He became an incredibly important person, however, once “Common Sense” was published. Suddenly, people were sharing his views, and the

American colonial government was inspired by his work to revolt against the British monarchy (“Thomas Paine.”). As one can clearly see, Thomas Jefferson was a very successful person all of his life who was very wealthy because he was both a lawyer and a famous lawyer. Thomas Paine on the other hand, had a rough beginning with dropping out of school, and struggling to find a job. These two factors probably meant that Thomas Paine was a writer that nobody knew about until he had published the renowned “Common Sense”.
Almost all American citizens know what the Declaration of Independence is, and what is has done for our country, but only a fraction of those people know what Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” is and how it has majorly influenced the writing of the Declaration of Independence. The ideas in Paine’s “Common Sense” have played a major part in the separation from Britain, the founding of our country and the creation of our new government.