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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. …show more content…
As we know, Thomas Paine’s main argument was for independence.
To begin his argument, Paine starts off by saying “In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense [. . .].” (641) I interpreted this as Thomas Paine saying that if you do not think America needs independence from England, then they have no common sense. To further develop his argument, he gives an example of a false argument. Paine says, “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 [. . .],” (642) and he makes a comparison to a baby thriving off of milk. He says that if a baby has thrived on milk, then it should not have meat. Paine believes that America would’ve flourished just as much, if not more without Great Britain. Thomas also proposes a challenge. A challenge to name a single advantage that America has by being connected to Great Britain. He repeats it by saying, “I repeat, the challenge; not a single advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported goods must be paid for buy them where we
will.” Paine also explains why it was a good time to break the ties with England. He talks about the size of the colonies, and what they are capable of. He shows the number of men in the British Navy, and then tells us how we can have one of around the same size. If they don’t agree to have independence now, the size of the colonies will grow and the sense of unity won’t be there anymore when the time comes. Since the colonies were small at this time, they had a sense of being “one.” Paine also proposes the idea of using the land to the west to help pay off some of the debt they will have. American Independence was inevitable, or at least that’s what Paine convinced his readers. He fully convinced most of them that America would be independent one day. His goal was to persuade the people to be in favor of independence, and he did a very good job of opening their eyes to it.
Chalmers argued that should the colonists gain independence from England their trading abilities would collapse and their economy would fail. He believed that to trade in the European market there needed to be political ties and contracts signed to be an established trade nation, and while the colonists had all of these luxuries under English rule, once they were independent they would not be part of the established trade network. Chalmers believed “The greatest part of our plank, staves, shingles, hoops, corn, beef, pork, herrings, and many other articles, could find no vent, but in the English Islands,” and without England to trade with the colonist’s trade network would be depleted and would fail along with their economy very rapidly (James Chalmers, Plain Truth, 117). Paine of course believed that independence from England would make the economy of the colonies flourish. He argued that the land of America was bountiful and profitable enough to boost the American economy in the trade markets of Europe. Unlike Chalmers, Paine believed that “As Europe is our market for trade, we ought to form no political connection with any part of it,” as this would make the American colonies unbiased and would be a better business decision (Paine, Common Sense, 108). In this situation,
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, in the pamphlet Common Sense, succeeded in convincing the indifferent portion of colonial society that America should secede from Britain through moral and religious, economic, and governmental arguments. Using strong evidence, targeting each separate group of people, Thomas Paine served not only to sway the public 's opinion on American independence, but also to mobilize the effort to achieve this ultimatum.
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.
In Common Sense, Thomas Paine argues for the colonies independence from Britain. He states that the colonies would still like to be in trade with Britain, but not under their rule. I believe that this was a good idea for Paine to write this document. He wasn't to harsh with the kind, and he stated everything clearly, and kindly. He also did not write the document in a manner that would make the king mad, he wrote the document in a way he would hope the king would understand.
Common Sense written by Thomas Paine in 1776 was originally a pamphlet that argues America’s independence about reflections about the government, and religion. He also speaks of the colonial people situation. Paine wanted a new beginning where everyone had equal social rights and freedom.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson appeals to patriotism. Jefferson ensures this by persuading the colonists to become self-governing. He tries to let all of the people of the New World understand that they have protested and defended themselves against the British for all of the corrupt acts the British have committed upon the colonists. Jefferson’s tone in the Declaration of Independence portrays how tiresome he has grown of the British rule after all of the deception towards Americans. Included within the idea of patriotism, is the idea of loyalty to the fundamental values and principles underlying American democracy. Thomas Paine also provides patriotism to get advocates for the movement to separate from the British forces. Correspondingly, Paine persuades Americans that they will prosper in numerous areas without the control of the British saying, “Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question is an independent, for independency means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws…” (Paine). Paine uses a demanding tone to convince Americans that if they should accept the ties with Britain, it will bring ruin and distress to the
Thomas Paine published his political pamphlet entitled, Common Sense, on January 10th, 1776 in Philadelphia (Claeys). At this time, his pamphlet did a great job of rallying Americans together and even gave the war a purpose: to seek full independence from...
When I was asked to read the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson and Common Sense by Thomas Paine I was kind of scared. As I started to read it, I found it to be truly interesting. Reading over them several times to make sure I was understanding the text and the meaning of them both. Through, out this paper I will share many compares and contrast over the Declaration of Independence and the Common Sense pamphlet. There are many reasons why these two documents had a great effect on the revolutionary American. As you will see in this paper I will point out many ways that these documents are still in effect today. In the end you will understand how the United States
He questioned the reason why the colonialists could not break ties with Britain. He highlighted all the hardships and believe by many that England and its monarch be believed and revered. Thomas Paine also incorporates religion into his style to all people to his viewpoint the king’s rule is unrighteous “ given us up to the devils” (Digital History). He also mentioned fear as a factor that Britain had employed in other parts, but he thanks God he knew the situation well (Digital History). A Thomas Paine argument was that colonialists should continue fighting even in the face of defeat because giving up would be a greater price pay. According to Thomas Paine, America “will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion.” and America will be in a “worse ruin than any we have yet thought of,” if the colonies don’t unite and continue fighting Britain. This point of view is helpful in understanding how his ideas worked to give an extra push for independence and foresee the crises that would come during the war.
Of these articles, “Common Sense,” by Thomas Paine was likely the most popular. The reason for this is that he wanted what the people wanted; a leader that was in the colonies and would rule to the benefit of the colonists. Written in January of 1776, “Common Sense” made many bold and profound statements about the king and England’s reign over the colonies. Paine introduces his ideas by stating that it is “exceedingly ridiculous,” that in England’s monarchy, parliament has “[excluded] a man from the means of information, yet [empower] him to act in the cases where the highest judgement is required,” in order to attract the attention of his readers (Paine, 2). In response, the colonists spread his ideas of independence as being “Common Sense,” and stating that “Ye that oppose independence now, ye know not what ye do,” alluding to the Bible when Jesus asked forgiveness for those who were to crucify him, suggesting that fighting against independence would be fighting to be subject of England’s “barbarous and hellish power,” (Paine, 2, 5). Thomas Paine argues that no man or woman should have control over any person or territory by stating “that in America the law is King,” as it should be in all free countries (Paine, 5). Thomas Paine closes his article by stating that “a government of our own is our natural right… that it is infinitely
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 anonymously wrote “Common Sense”, a pamphlet discussing the ideas of independence from Britain. This helped the colonists put their frustrations with their government into words. Paine wrote it so simply that anyone could understand his ideas, and it was quite persuasive. He says, “The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.” (Baym 326) Essentially, Thomas Paine explains how independence from the monarchy would be a really wonderful thing, and he ultimately explains that this independence is inevitable. He talks about how Britain is the parent of America. He compares America to a child growing independent of its parents. Although at one point, America was “flourish[ing] under her former connection with Great Britain”, he says that now it is time for America to grow independent. He uses the example of a child who has been raised on milk never moving on to eating meat. Although the child grew a lot on milk, that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t continue to grow by eating meat, by gaining more independence. (Baym 326) And he says that while Britain is their parent country, parents shouldn’t “devour their young,” or “make war upon their families.” (Baym 327) He’s using this extended parent example to show that America really doesn’t need a parent country anymore. This idea of total independence from Britain put a lot in perspective for Americans at the time. They became empowered and confident in this idea of