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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
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.
His purpose was to ramp up the colonist to break away from Britain. Even in his intro he has already started to express the need to stop these issue, “As a long and violent abuse of power is generally the means of calling the right of it in question, (and in matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry,) and as the king of England hath undertaken in his own right, to support the parliament in what he calls theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpations of either.” Paine's attack on monarchy in Common Sense is essentially an attack on George
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
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.
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and The Crisis, No. 1 deal directly with the colonist’s rejection of British rule. According Paine, the British Crown had over stayed its welcome in the political and cultural development of the colonies. The introduction of Common Sense clearly states that the British monarchy has “a long and violent abuse of power,” and that the people of the colonies have the right to be involved and have meaningful representation to the king and Parliament (325) This is a core value of the colonists. Settlers of the English colonies saw the New World as a way to start a new government and new culture, especially when they were given no power in the Parliament. Paine further casts a light on the problems between Britain and America in the third section of Common Sense. He states that Britain is not connected to America anymore, even if the people are descendants of the country. The passage also expresses the selfishness of Britain protection of the colonies to gain truth and control of the people. (326-328) The writings of this section reflect how colonists felt and further helped them to realize that their former mother country, Britain, was an enemy rather than a
Paine thought the colonies had the right to revolt against a government that imposed taxes on them, but didn’t give them the right to represent them in the current government. Thomas believed there was no reason for the Colonies to stay dependent on England. He has an awesome way of persuading people to take action through his writing. Paine says that sooner or later independence from England must come, because America had lost touch with the mother country. All the arguments for separation of England are based on nothing more than the facts and arguments.
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
Thomas Paine in this chapter tore into the British system of government especially the aristocracy and the monarchy. One of the biggest points of the entire book is how royalty is a totally idiotic way to govern a nation and that governments that make no sense should not be able to govern. “But there is another and greater distinction, for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into kings and subjects” (Paine 2). In this quote he brings up the fact that the monarchy and aristocracy are really the biggest dividers in a government sense between people. He even goes deeper and says that kings shouldn’t exist in the first place. They go against the natural order of the world. Animals in the wilderness don’t get rewarded for simply being the son of another animal. So therefore a king should not be allowed to wield massive power and have a huge fortune for simply being born. One almost has to agree with Paine on this. Not only are kings overall illogical to have. A country’s life and economy can entirely depend on the hopeful competence of a single ruler. It has been shown throughout history that one bad king can destroy a country for centuries. Entrusting a nation with millions of people to a single man and his advisors is a terrible system of
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,
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.
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
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
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.
The Revolutionary War was one of America’s earliest battles and one of many. Although, many came to America to gain independence from Great Britain many still had loyalty for the King and their laws. Others believed that America needs to be separated from Great Britain and control their own fate and government. I will analyze the arguments of Thomas Paine and James Chalmers. Should America be sustained by Great Britain or find their own passage?
Paine believes in independence, therefore he argues that America should fight a war for independence. He uses the representation of government