A Summary of Common Sense by Thomas Paine
Introduction
Thomas Paine begins by stating that there is a possibility that the ideas and beliefs he presents within this pamphlet are too ahead of their time for the general population to support. He writes that just because the readers have never thought of something as wrong, doesn’t make it right, and given time they’ll come to see the truth in that statement as well as the truth contained in his pamphlet. The Americans living under the rule of the King of England had the privilege as the oppressed to question, and possibly oppose, the rule of the King and Parliament. For those who agree with Paine, the success of this pamphlet is not necessary to continue on the right path for this nation. The
…show more content…
He then goes on to describe the ways that the English constitution, and whole government system, is flawed. The English constitution contradicts itself by saying that the Crown can’t be trusted to rule on their own and that the commons were appointed too check in on the king and, therefore, are wiser and more worthy to rule than the Crown. Yet, the constitution also gives the King the power to check the commons i.e. the people wiser than him. The entire constitution and system makes little sense, causes all the many parts and powers to slow each other down, and results in nothing getting done. Basically, the will of the King is the law of the land. Thomas Paine than urges the reader to not be prejudiced by the fact that they’ve lived under the English constitution for so long or else it will hinder them from being able to tell what a good constitution …show more content…
First of all, just because America has flourished under the rule of Great Britain in the past does not mean it is a necessary for the country’s future happiness and that reconciliation is not the reader’s duty as a person of English descent nor will true reconciliation be accomplished at this point in time. Great Britain has only ever defended America for the sake of trade and domain, which is unnecessary anyway as a continent (America) does not need anyone to defend it and an island (Great Britain) doesn’t naturally govern a continent. Defense would be unnecessary as well if America was independent from Great Britain because then all of their enemies will become simple, friendly trade partners and America will stay uninvolved in European wars. Only those with no common sense believe that being dependent on Great Britain still has advantages for America. Thomas Paine declares that independence is the only way to keep the peace of the continent and that now is the time to form our own government with a president, equal representation, a congress, delegates, etc., and lay down our own rights.
Of the Present Ability of America, With Some Miscellaneous
Thomas Paine’s objective in “The American Crisis” is to persuade Americans to untie and take action in ridding America of British control; his writings effectiveness is due primarily to his employment of religious diction, vivid imagery, a sentimental anecdote, an urgent tone, as well as his consistent exploitation of his audiences’ emotions.
Whether it is campaigning for an abolitionist movement in the eighteen-hundreds or fighting for women's basic freedoms, they fought for long-term safety and security. One of the first of many examples in the fight for freedom is Thomas Paine and his pamphlet entitled Common Sense. Published in 1776, Paine explains that the people of America must fight against the unfair and unjust ways of the British Parliament. His ideas on independence and freedom created a revolution in American history. Paine not only advocated against the temporary security and restraint forced upon America, but he proposed the ideas of everyday freedoms and an unbreakable sense of security in The American
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
Thomas Paine’s Common sense from III Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs is about the conflict between New England and America. The Americans didn’t like the way the British treated them so Paine’s stated his issue why America has to be an independent country to save its government and the reasons to wanted having freedom with Britain. Pain gave reason in the text what would happen to the American government if they stayed dependent from England. Paine’s Common Sense spoke out his beliefs about the hardships in America and how he felt America. A quote by Thomas Paine, “The authority of Great Britain over this continent is a form of government which sooner or later must have an end: and a serious mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and positive conviction that what he calls ‘the present constitution’ is merely
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 measures made to ensure the king does not have absolute power are not enough to prevent him from ultimately getting his way no matter what that may be. On page 27 Paine tells how the king made the declaration that there will be no law unless put in place by himself. This effort to make the colonists powerless as to how they are governed is tyranny. Paine’s also argues that this event shows how Britain believes America has become too powerful and is trying to slow its growth and development (27). Those who are in parliament so far away from the tragic events that take place in America who live in such a vastly different world are too ignorant to make judgements for America (23). Paine’s statement that in America “law is king,” demonstrates the author’s argument that law developed for the people should be what runs the country not a single man (30). This coincides with the way America was running well before the war ended and Britain decided to exert more power over the colonies. This is made even more evident when Thomas Paine states Britain cannot be relied on to defend them because Britain is the entity that had been trying to take away America’s power and the people rights. Furthermore,
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.
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
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.
The initial paragraphs of Paine’s pamphlet establish to his audience that he is a reliable figure. While Paine talks about the journey they have gone so far, he tells his audience about their status in the war so far by saying, “we did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we were in a dependent state” (108). By starting out with igniting the start of getting the audience angry, Paine then goes on to kill the flame a little by blaming the audience of their position so far, but is able to keep his audience on his path by blaming himself in his words by using the inclusive pronoun “we”. Continuing on by saying that, “the fault if it were one, was all our own… But no great deal is lost yet”, then goes on to have his audience still on his path, but then starts to build himself up as a reliable figure by saying that he believes that they are not finished yet and evoking the spirit that they can do it. Besides this initial effort to have his audience trust and believe his words, a common enemy begins to be established between Paine and the audience in which he goes on to say, “God Almighty will not give ...
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
Thomas Paine was an independent thinker that contemplated revolutionary ideas. He came to America to begin anew but saw that the American Colonists were only fighting the unfair taxes the British forced upon them and not for their complete independence. He wanted to convey to the colonists that they had a choice and wrote many pamphlets and works about the subject of independence. Paine was such an eloquent writer convincing many of his points of view. He boldly dedicated himself to exploring the political and religious implications of reason and logic. As he writes in the dedication to The Age of Reason, “The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall” (351). In Common Sense, when concluding that the colonies should separate themselves from England, he writes, “It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to all examples from
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?