Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson

Through showing colonists that the last resort to free themselves from Britain was important, Thomas Paine helped influence the revolution, while slightly influencing the Declaration of Independence. Only after Common Sense came out did the founding fathers realize they needed independence. Even they were not brave enough to stand against British rule. There are quite a few differences between the language used in the Declaration and Common Sense. While Common sense was written for common people to read, the Declaration was written in a way to get alliances with Europe. One of the alliances was with England, which Thomas Paine wanted to cut off all ties with England. The founding fathers did have more lose if they went down Paine’s route, the British could have them killed. “The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and

Thomas Paine’s name is famous because of a pamphlet he wrote in 1776 called Common Sense. Though it is his most renown piece of work it wasn’t the only thing he was famous for, he also wrote The American Crisis series and the Rights of Man. Going by the titles of his works you can easily assume that he was political activist writer. His main interests were Politics, ethics, and religion. From my research I feel like Thomas was always involved in some type of crisis whether it be the American Revolution, French Revolution, or the many government debates over naturel rights. It is Thomas Paine’s Common Sense that drove the American colonist to support the war for independence from Britain. Common Sense is an iconic piece of work that not only

One of the most fundamental people in the push for American Independence, Thomas Paine offers much advice in both Common Sense, and The Crisis. Paine offers very strong arguments in Common Sense, which are supported by his own reason, his sensibility, his common sense and by his ability to draw inference from what has already happened. Paine uses every element in his ability to help give more depth to his arguments and plans. However, of all the cases Thomas Paine makes in Common Sense, the ultimate goal of Paine is to incite the American Public to make a stand against British tyranny, and break from Britain altogether, and become independent.

Paine was attempting to persuade Americans to seek independence from Britain through insurrection. Colonists were expected to observe unjust British laws and due to Britain’s debt from the French and Indian War, were also expected to pay unjust taxes. This brought on a flow of uprisings by the colonists, and the later on, the colony’s consensus to formally separate from Britain. With the writing of Common Sense, Paine convinced the colonists to

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

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 was a powerful and successful propaganda weapon used to promote his idea of independence from Britain. In order to prove that seeking independence was necessary at this time in history, Paine wrote about the relationship between society and government, his opinions about the British monarchy and the King, and the freedoms he believed had been stolen from the colonists. Common Sense was written in terms that were easily relatable to the colonist of this time period. After they finished reading his work, many colonists’ opinions about the British were swayed by his strong words. Even though Paine arrived in America quite late, he was able to make a significant difference by changing the colonists’ views, which ultimately

Thomas Paine was an activist for many causes throughout his lifetime including the abolition of slavery, government rule by democracy rather than a monarchy, and in later years about what he believed were falsehoods in the Bible. He was an advocate for freedom of the people and his writings were often controversial. He believed in democracy and leaned toward rule by the common man. After becoming a friend of Benjamin Franklin, he traveled to the colonies. While in the colonies his writings on the American Revolution caused him to become an enemy of the British Government. When he returned to Great Britain his writings as a proponent for the French Revolution caused him to have to flee to France to avoid arrest. His political stance in France eventually caused him to be imprisoned and he eventually had to flee again to the United States to escape long-term imprisonment. He traveled quite a bit and was able to see firsthand the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Thomas Paine was a gifted writer, and he was very devoted to his causes. He is extremely famous for his pamphlet Common Sense which he wrote about what he felt was the necessity for American independence and later had an input into the Constitution of the United States of America. There were a number of gifted male writers during this timeframe who wrote about the same issues, including Edmund Burke, so even though he was a revolutionary writer, he was not unique.

There were many men involved in the establishment of the government, the laws regulating states and people, and individual rights in the construction of the United States of America. Two men stand out as instrumental to our founding principles: Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

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.