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Common Sense Essay
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense an extremely influential piece of American history that helped shaped the future of our country. It gave many reasons of why the colonies should break away from Britain and declare independence. After being published, it sold well over 100,000 copies in the first few months. Paine was able to make all the reasons of why the colonies should break away from Britain available to many people and was able to convince them that these reasons were strong and worthy. There are many points that Paine makes throughout his writings but some of the bigger points were one, that the hereditary succession that was in place at the time was unjust. Paine also feels that Britain should not have any rule over the
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Paine is able to counter his argument with strong examples and support of why independence is best for the colonies and at he is able to show that war is not the option to gain independence.
One of Paine’s argument and quite possibly the most important topic of his article is that the king of Britain and being under the monarchy is of no help to the colonies. Paine says that “Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil.” What Paine means by this is that is that have a having a set society and rules is a good thing but he feels as though having a strong set government and having a king rule over a nation like a dictatorship is evil and not something that should have control over all people. There were so many issues with how the king was chosen and who could become king such as there was no age limit, there
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The colonists have no say in what laws are made. The king has absolute authority over all the laws and will only pass the one that he wants whether or not they are in the best interest of the people and the nation. Many of the people in the colonies do not think that the king will allow them to declare independence. “They dreaded an independence, fearing that it would produce civil wars.” He is says this after he has talked to some men of the colonies and he feels that they have spoken without thinking. This is the fear that has been placed on them because of all the problems with civil wars and rebellions that have come under the monarchy. Paine feels as though if the colonies declare independence and stand behind it that this will not happen, that they need to be strong against the king and knock down some of his power, and also have the people more involved within the
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!”
Thomas Paine constructs Common Sense as an editorial on the subject of the relationship between the Colonies and Great Britain. Through the paper, he hopes to educate his fellow Americans about this subject. In his introduction, he says he feels that there is 'a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong'; which 'gives it a superficial appearance of being right'; (693). He is alluding to the relationship, also calling it a 'violent abuse of power'; (693). This choice of words is similar to those of Jefferson, who asserts that the king had established an 'absolute tyranny'; over the states. Both men set an immediate understanding about their feelings towards the rule of Great Britain over the States. However, where Common Sense seems to be an opinionated essay, Thomas Jefferson writes somewhat of a call to battle. Paine generally seems to be alerting his readers to the fact that there is more going on than they are aware of. Jefferson, on the other hand, begins his declaration by stating, 'When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another'; (715). Unlike Paine, this seems to presuppose that readers are aware of the plight of the nation, and Jefferson is announcing that the time has come to take a stand.
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
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.
Thomas Paine wrote the Common Sense and in this pamphlet he wrote about America’s separation and independence from Great Britain. His argument stated that America is a large continent and we are in charge of our own fate and direction (Paine 107). Paine further explained that people migrated to America to escape the control of the King and his laws. Paine introduced a theory when comparing America to a small island, that it is possible if separated we can come together and make our own laws and run the country as we see fit (Paine 109). Paine believes that we are no longer in need of Britain’s help and that we can eventually form alliances with other countries as we stand alone outside of Britain’s control.
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...
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.
That belief caused him to create a book about the age of reason. Thomas Paine had a powerful impact on colonist minds by creating “Common Sense”. Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet that helped cause the Continental Army to form, and to make a colonist turn against the British. He influenced the Americans to fight for their rights that the king had taken away from them; their natural born rights. Paine said “If Britain is our motherland, then why would she treat her kids badly?”
Thomas Paine begins his revolutionary book with a rant about the decision that's taxing all of the American colony: to remain under British power or to rebel for independence. Paine then accounts all of the major problems with the British political system, most importantly the method of their rulers (kings and aristocrats) gaining their power through inheritance instead of earning it through a democratic structure. With that said, Paine also considers all of the perspectives of the people who want to stay connected to the British rule. One by one, he debunks these arguments and exposes that they are nothing more than excuses made by cowards who don't want to risk their lives for freedom. In the end, Paine addresses the group of religious pacifists
Revolution! This was the theme of the entirety of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. Throughout the book Thomas Paine was trying to show that the only true option and the only right option the colonies had was to separate from England. During the time of the writing of Common Sense the thirteen British Colonies of America were in a very turbulent time. Huge numbers of people across the colonies supported the new independence movement and sought a war with Britain. This mainly came about from the King of England at the time trying to force his will on the colonies via taxes and new laws. Even with these new tyrannical rules imposed on the colonies many in them still believed that
Unequivocally one of the most historically and culturally-significant pieces of literature, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense has been meticulously analyzed for its effectiveness in eliciting the reaction that Paine himself intended in 1776. At the forefront of Paine’s pamphlet is “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs,” notable for its first sentence: “In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple, facts, plain arguments, and commonsense” (7). Within, Paine “elaborates” on three main points that strengthen the option of independence: the effects of British rule on the colonies; the plausible relationship with Britain upon reconciliation; the actual role of England as a parent country as opposed to England’s optimal role. However,
There is no doubt that Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense was one of the most influential documents in American history. There were 150,000 copies of this pamphlet sold, and it was also copied in newspapers and read aloud. His writing was so successful because he brought the issue of independence to the common people. Hints the name Common Sense. Thomas Paine was mainly a newspaper man, so he wrote his documents to be easily understood by the general public. He wrote Common Sense to argue for independence from England. However, a majority of Americans were against independence. They were afraid to break their ties with England. With some people for independence, and more against it, this is where Thomas Paine’s Common Sense came into play.
Thomas Paine's main argument in Common Sense is full of analysis and logical views about the American Independence. Specially, his article was to aim to the revolution for the better world without putting too much one's power on America. The evidence was that many disputes happening like the war between France and Britannia over the New World 1. From my perspective, I agree with his three main arguments about the difference between government and society, the negative side of monarchy and hereditary succession, and the truth of the American situations since these showed weakness that America has and strength that America can consider about.
As he writes, “The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a continental charter, or Charter of the United Colonies” (Chapter 3, Paragraph 47). Thomas did not want a reason for any colony to stay dependent on England and to need any help from them. Through his writing, Paine has a call-for-action tone and convinces several people to make a change. He wants independence to come fast and believes that one of the first things that America should do as an independent country is create a constitution that protects its democracy and the rights of all Americans. Paine says that sooner or later independence from England must come, because America had lost touch with the traditional mother
Paine believes in independence, therefore he argues that America should fight a war for independence. He uses the representation of government