What Is Paine's Thesis In Common Sense

Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. He and Robert Bell published it on January 9, 1776 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Paine’s objective was to test the authority and policies of the King of England and the British Parliament.
Common Sense is organized into four sections entitled: “Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution”, “Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession”, “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs”, and “On the Present Ability of America, With Some Miscellaneous Reflections”. Paine’s thesis in Common Sense is that monarchy is an inefficient and badly organized form of government, and that the colonies should gain their independence to be free from the crown.

In his pamphlet, Paine talked about the blurred distinction between society and government.

He said that the difference between the two is that society is a result of human desires, and that government is produced by wickedness. A lack of structure through government would be catastrophic, and he believed that it was essential though he considered it wicked. He expressed the importance of a representative body, such as Congress, and the importance of representing the interests of the rest of the people. He challenged the Divine Right of Kings and how the British government seemed to contradict itself. He said that the process of the King checking Parliament and then Parliament checking the King seemed off to him because the King is supposedly appointed by God. This in particular caused Paine to think that the British were basically making the government up as they went, and did not have clear idea of what they were doing. He used this to challenge the Loyalists, who sided with the British Parliament. Paine seems to think that the Loyalists had a sense of pride, though they did not know what they had pride in. He did not think that those who supported the monarchy understood

it.
Paine proceeds to talk about the belief that all men are created equal. He feels that a distinction between a monarch and the people is completely invalid. A monarch is only a monarch because of the family he was born into, not because he is actually superior to the rest of the people. Paine believed that the very first civilizations of the world did not have kings and that they were better off than England is. He also blamed the Jewish people for wanting a king to dictate them and not laying their demands to rest. He did not mind countries having kings, but he wanted the kings to earn their titles and be reputable leaders. He did not think it was right for someone to be in power simply because of who their father was.
Paine believed that as he wrote Common Sense, it was time for change. He calls the colonists to action against the British monarchy and gives the idea that he thought that American independence was the single most important thing and that they should push for it. He expressed his disagreement with the statement that the colonies were only united under the crown and had no relation to each other without Britain. He strongly believed that the parent of America is Europe and not Britain on its own because of the diversity of backgrounds within the people. He brings in an argument that the colonies do not need England to be successful or efficient. Paine, like John Milton, thought that the wounds England had inflicted upon the colonies were so deep that they could not be healed. Parliament was on the other side of the ocean and was oblivious to what was going on in the colonies. Without being in the colonies, they could not govern the colonies efficiently.