Thomas Paine was an influential individual at his time, whose most famous work, Rights of Man, described America as a safe heaven for those trying to start a new life, where no individual would be over privileged, men would be equal, and the government would not be corrupt. Although the America of today has improved substantially over the two-hundred or so years since Paine’s, Rights of Man, providing several benefits for the the poverty-stricken, and improving culturally as a people, America is plagued with over privileged wealthy men who run the government and control the public, acting as puppet masters, who control the will of the people through a corrupt government. So although Thomas Paine was correct about America’s benefits for the …show more content…
Programs such as W.I.C. and the SNAP program offer a type of welfare needed for those less financially-able to purchase their food. Other government sectors have offered dental care aid to those families meeting the requirements for aid with programs such as Dental Aid which offers quality dental service to low income families for a margin of the price. There are scholarships offered to those of culturally diverse backgrounds for Native Americans and people of Hispanic backgrounds. Paine also described America as a culturally diverse group of people and today that still stands with about sixty percent of Americans being purely white and the other forty percent being of a set of diverse ethnicities. The rights Paine described, although limited, are very present today with every man having the right to suffrage, and every one having the same opportunity if they were to start of at the same financial level. The government although not being the best does allow people their rights to keep them in a happy state. So in several ways Paines envisioned America still holds up today, with the government being just, diversity being plentiful, and underprivileged men having aid to help them succeed in this …show more content…
The poor don't have the same opportunities as the upper class citizens, with only forty-five percent of these students being accepted into college. The poor are even more likely to be neglected when applying to a job, and even more when you are of colored skin. This is even more apparent with higher positioned jobs for example the federal government, where most positions are held by wealthy white men. Men don't live comfortably in a society where conflicts always around the corner, harmony, something paine envisioned isn't very evident today. Police brutally is something commonly seen, more so with colored men, with several movements like the black lives matter movement being a reality. With past year's election gone and done many question the future of America as a nation as a bigoted racist man has been elected president. Donald trump is the complete opposite to what Paine envisioned america to be, racist occurrences have now increased due to the newly elected president. Donald Trump is just the definition of what's wrong with America, hes rich and privileged white man. The government doesn't do much to help out the poor community, many towns are run down and no help from the government in seen. The country is in debt, and Detroit is a prime example of that
•Compare the backgrounds of Jefferson and Paine; did Paine have an advantage or disadvantage by not being born in the colonies? Explain.
Typology is deeply rooted throughout history as noted in American Literature, and it is still prominent today. Modern day citizens can turn on the news and see typology in one particularly important aspect of our democracy: politics. One of many examples of typology used in American Politics is when current President Donald Trump states, “We need to drain the Swamp” when speaking about the Federal Government. This phrase is dated back historically to times when people would drain swamps to reduce the number of mosquitos to alleviate the problem of malaria. However, that’s not what President Trump is alluding to, because he’s using it to generate an emotional reaction to persuade the base supporters of his campaign that he will make the American
“Freedom is nothing but a chance to become better.” Albert Camus. With fighting for their freedom you have to have a reason and the determination to earn it. The people who helped shift the colonist into wanting their independence were Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson In both of the readings “ The Crisis, Number 1” -Thomas Paine and The Declaration of Independence- Thomas Jefferson. In “Crisis, Number 1” -Thomas Paine gives us all the reasons to gain independence from Britain. Then in Jefferson's piece The Declaration of Independence states why we are wanting our freedom from the King.
There was a lot of tension building up during the 1760's and 1770's between Great Britain and America and something had to be done about it. Is it worth the risk declaring independence from the most powerful country in the world? The forefathers were in a confusing situation and had to come up with something to do to solve the problem. They needed something to come along and help them make a decision. The writing of Common Sense by Thomas Paine was a major help in persuading the push to declare independence.
America’s pavement of growth throughout history to today’s present day has changed immensely, and we the people are responsible for its shape and development. We all are America’s history; we are the endless cycle of the ruins and rebirths, and the sum of the good and the bad that have occurred. We are the narrators of the vast and small achievements that have molded our civilization. Our sums or products help guide our actions for the present. History simply repeats itself; if we do not learn from our mistakes, then we are bound to create them again. Throughout America’s growth, there were two different men almost two hundred years apart in which history had obeyed, and they still serve as an inspiration for today’s nation, Thomas Paine and Martin Luther King Jr. They both were an important voice for America during their time periods, and helped guide everyone to achieve their own version of America’s dream. Despite the time periods and slight differences about their goals and dreams,
With America being as diverse as it is, people would think everyone is united, but is that completely true? Thomas Paine shows his view of America as being a harmonious country with no problems. Even though over the years America has become a lot more diverse, that does not signify, all of the sudden, we have become a problem-free nation, comparable to what Thomas Paine thinks. Every nation has difficulties, and that includes America. America is nowhere close to being a perfect nation, but some nations have a lot more conflicts than America; and we have been trying, over the years, to become closer as a stronger country. Even with diversity growing in America, supporting Paine's argument, the United States is not a complete, harmonious nation,
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...
Back in the late 1700s America was still a newly founded country and Paine was trying to make and image where America was great with absolutely no problems. America suffers with almost no unity and though some of Paine 's statements were accurate and some not so much this shows that with time everything changes. The country Paine characterized is a country where the majority of Americans want to live in. A country where there is equality and justice, but one day this country will achieve that again with
Common Sense During the late 17 hundreds the American colonies were split between separating from Great Britain or not. Some colonists felt they did not need to leave the rule of Britain, while others saw potential for the American colonies without Great Britain parliament. In the pamphlet titled Common Sense, Thomas Paine expressed his beliefs to separate from Great Britain in order to achieve greater opportunities for the Americans.
America is different from other places, it always has been. The reason why is America has a vast variety of “…people from different nations, accustomed to different forms and habits of government, speaking different languages, and more different in their modes of worship.” America is an immense melting pot. Together they all help America strive in every field of technology, work, and life because of all of these differences. Thomas Paine’s characterization of America does not hold true today. Society in America is exceedingly different compared to 1791, the government is not impartial, the poor are overburdened, and the rich are extremely privileged.
While Crèvecoeur may insist cultural diversity is the significant quality that establishes American character from any other nation, he and Paine agree that the American identity is formed by the ideas of freedom, civil rights, and justice. According to Micheal True, Paine is able to capture how Americans dream of personal freedom, and how a fairly new and untested government becomes unique to their experience. True depicts Paine's “ essays embellished the American dream and showed a deep trust in the democratic process, as represented by the colonial experiment. It showed a firm belief in a new age, free of the burdens of the past. “ (American Writers:A Collection of Literary Biographies, 506). While Americans seem to demand more from their governments and justice systems, Paine suggests Americans have an uncommon character for justice. Paine says what is lawful and ethical according to the common people is a ubiquitous and specific trait to the Americans. He admits American justice and integrity, “they distinguish us from the herd of common animals” (331). While freedom, justice, and civil rights can be desires of the character from many other nations, the opportunity to enact their ideologies into a new society separates Americans from those under a pre-existing
During 1776, the most important persuader of American Independence was Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, a pamphlet that expressed his advocacy for the independence of American colonies from Great Britain. As the pamphlet gained popularity, it received both praise and criticism from Patriots who supported the cause, as well as rejection from Loyalists who supported Britain. The Loyalists found the pamphlet to be extreme and labeled it as insidious and absurd. In contrast, the majority of Patriots found it to be a wonder and a miracle that was promoting a good cause. However, there were still some patriots that believed it was hurting the cause.
During the Civil War, slaves were treated as mere objects and were used to do work and were whipped and abused. This was true oppression, being forcefully kept in hardship and difficult circumstances by their unjust and authoritative masters. In contrast, the poor are not abused by any “master” nor are they kept in hardship by any unjust or manipulative authority, rather quite the opposite: they are upheld by just and righteous authority. Every four years, when the presidential debates roll around, one of the primary questions candidates are asked is how they will help to decrease poverty rates in America. President Barack Obama, who just recently finished his term, passed the Affordable Care Act, increasing taxes in order to provide free healthcare to the poor. He also used the money earned from taxes to provide welfare, essentially free money, to the poor to help them acquire basic necessities and improve their quality of living. President Donald Trump, who was recently sworn in only five days ago, has made a plan to move many offshore and foreign jobs for American companies back to the U.S., in order to give the lower class more job opportunities to better their conditions. Trump has promised to bring back 25 million jobs in order to help put the poor to work and get them more money. While different parties may have different means to assist the poor economically, Paine’s
In Thomas Paine's Common Sense, there are some similarities and differences in the tone as compared to Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Paine's approach to his work contrasts that of Jefferson's. However, they still use the same basic techniques to making their feelings known, which include examining the problem, giving reasons for why it is a problem, and offering their opinion on the solution. Jefferson's and Paine's difference in their tone is evident when examining who they are addressing the documents to, the overall layout of their documents, and the relative importance of the documents.
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.