Thomas Paine Since I was born in Great Britain and when I was young I lived under a monarchy and every since I wanted to make a different kind of government that separates the powers and makes everyone equal. I was approached by Benjamin Franklin and he asked me to come with him to America to help create the new government, I agreed. When I got to America I settled in Philadelphia I became a journalist that disgraced the monarchical government and wrote “Common Sense” which was a short pamphlet that told how the British government was wrong and an outline of a better government. In the outline of the new government you are free and in the British government you are not free and basically owned by the king. In this new type of government
John Locke an English writer states that “ As guards and fences to the properties of all the members of the society, to limit the power and moderate the domination, of every part and member of the society.” (Doc.5) ‘Society’- The general public must endeavor to fight for a say in court for the laws that are being created and used against for them. Through people like Locke, it created an equality in the government, which now involved the voices of the lower class(Mkay). Voltaire, French writer and most famously known for “ I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” , (Doc 6.)Writes the letters on the English, which highlight the importance of a well-governed government, one of which involves the help of all, not just nobles.
Both Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson like many of the founding fathers of America share a ideology concerning independence and freedom in general. Although the two were notably talented writers, the difference in their arguments was their respective deliveries, writing styles, and their timing. Personally, I agree more with the way Thomas Paine chose to present his point of view. Common sense, for example, was a significant eye-opener for many Americans. One of the only reasons it made such huge impact was because it was written in a style that was easy to understand for the average American.
Throughout history, there were various motivational authors who tried to persuade their reader to fight. During the Revolutionary era, American authors such as Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, and Phillis Wheatley state their justifications on why the colonists should fight. At the time of the Revolutionary period, American authors significantly influenced the colonists to fight for their independence from Britain by invoking their belief in God, love for family and freedom. After evaluating the works of Revolutionary authors, the belief in God is used to persuade the colonists to engage in war.
Thomas Paine and the Syrian Civil War During the American revolution, Thomas Paine stated in one of his papers: “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like all men, undergo the fatigues to support it.”(Paine,1777). Thomas Paine is an English Enlightenment thinker who supported the American Revolution as well as the French Revolution. His idea of revolution was that people can revolt and form their own government when they aren’t feeling like they aren’t being treated properly by the government. These ideas connect to the current Syrian Civil War where people aren’t getting the safety and rights they need to survive.
Several of the early American authors such as Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Patrick Henry used rhetoric in numerous famous American literary pieces. Rhetoric is merely defined as the skillful use of language to persuade or purposefully communicate in an effective way. Although all of these individual American writers acquire this useful skill, Thomas Paine is the most effective in demonstrating it. Thomas Paine’s most effective way in persuading and purposefully communicating with the masses was by attacking issues within items that Americans valued the most. For example, in one of Paine’s writings, The Age of Reason, Paine launched an attack on the irrationality of religion.
“I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine.” John Adams. Thomas Paine is the most influential patriot because of his writing: Common Sense and the Crisis Papers. He influenced many with his ideas, which were not popular at the time. Thomas Paine was a great patriot for many reasons.
Paine argues “what possible obligation, then, can exist between [those who have died and those not yet born] - what rule or principle can be laid down that of two nonentities, the one out of existence and the other not in, and who never can meet in this world, the one should control the other to the end of time?” Paine is adamantly against the notion that the dead, and those not yet born, should play any role in politics as they do not exist, and do not need to be accommodated. He further supports this claim on page 438 when he states that: The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave, is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies. Man has no property in man; neither has any generation a property in the generations which
I would say Paine had a disadvantage by not being born in the colonies although you would have not known by how quickly he took up with America once arriving. He would have one advantage of when he speaks oh how England is a true tyrant, he would know better then the rest of the men born in the colonies. In the Declaration of Independence Jefferson is writing to the elite, the wealthy educated landowners. The people of America that are well involved in the Political system. Pain wants to address everyone down to the lowest level and he does this by speaking in simple terms not using any Latin that only the most educated elite use when reading or writing.
If all that was said about Thomas Paine was true, then I don’t see why we don’t recognize him as one of the Founding Fathers. Jefferson, himself, even stated that Paine did as much labor as any other man. The only reason I can think that we as Americans haven’t officially recognized him as a Founding Father is because of all that was said about him. Thomas Paine had a way with words and freely expressed them without a care. In 1794, there is an excerpt on Christianity in the book The Age of Reason that was very harsh.
Thomas Paine came from a pretty average family. His father was a corseter he had high hopes for his son to go further than he had in life. This was not really in the cards it seemed at first. He was consistently failed at everything he did first was the family business then he was an excise tax officer, however he failed at that as well not once but twice. In the process he did start what would become his legacy, writing.
In an interaction with Thomas Paine through his essay “The Age of Reason,” I noticed many saddening facts about his life. One belief Paine puts forth in his essay is that he believes in one god. However as the reader continues, Paine explains that he does not believe in the God of the Bible, the Trinity, or any such thing. The question that surfaced as I finished reading his piece was, “if Paine’s god is not the one defined by the Bible, then what god does he believe in?”
Thomas More had an abundance of revolutionary ideas for his time, many of which he penned down in his famous work Utopia. More’s greatest focus in this short book is placed on exploring the possibilities and benefits of a new kind of government. His views on such things as freedom, community, and the innate nature of man were all considered when creating what More views as the epitome of a successful government. It is baffling to realize that, using these same principles of freedom, community, and the innate nature of man, another author could come to a conclusion in direct opposition with More’s outcome.
The last, was governing the representatives through things such as time of rule and conduct in this time. This paper helps one to view the government as diverse and dynamic in such a way that it is able to change according to demand and time and all the necessary aspects that have been availed to it. We see the United States government in this document trying to implement a new manner of governing and they are able to. From the document, we see the author trying to appeal to the government at the time to try and maintain the status quo as a result of uncertainty of the success of the attempt.