Response To Thomas Paine

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Often referred to as one of the unofficial Founders of America, Thomas Paine is best known for his widely read work, Common Sense, which aimed to stimulate a desire for freedom against Britain. His work sparked a desire for independence in some and became a subject of many objections to others. Two of the more important objections to Paine are regarding his idea of what government should be and his attempt to expose the deceits of revealed religion. Through the use of numerous responses to Common Sense and Age of Reason, it is evident that Paine’s simple but radical questioning of authority threatened the traditional idea of power. While Paine convinced many, he still caused controversy amongst certain groups, particularly loyalists who were …show more content…

by the monarch. He was aware of the luxurious lifestyle of the monarch in Britain and the inferior lifestyles of Americans. According to Paine, government exists for the purpose of security; people give up the least and benefit the most. If government is created to protect people, and the monarch is oppressing the people, then for Paine, the social contract has been breached and the government no longer serves its purpose. As stated by Paine, the monarch seized to be advantageous for America; those that disagreed simply did so due to their. Furthermore, Paine would argue that reconciliation with Britain would not yield positive long-term results. By using history and the corrupt nature of the British government, Paine is able to demonstrate that problems would continue to repeat themselves and independence would be …show more content…

In his argument against a monarchy, Paine discusses how absurd it is that a king is required to know everything that is going on in the world, yet is shut away from it. Paine argued. If the common people are kept away from governmental positions and are not given the right to vote, then how could America be a true democracy? For Paine Adam’s view of freedom would just replace the monarchy’s king with the democracy’s elite. He would argue that while Adams wanted freedom from Britain, he did not want liberty for

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