Jefferson's Influence On Thomas Paine

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. On the other hand we have Thomas Jefferson, which essentially seemed to have the “golden touch”. He came from one of the most prominent families in Virginia, inherited his father’s estate, and then began building what would become Monticello. Jefferson practiced law and later pursued what became a very successful political

Turning to the major contributions they had during this fragile time we see more and more how their past affected their future. Paine writes Common Sense which was written in very plain English to appeal to the common man as well as the educated. He had done what no one before him has thought to do or had been willing to do that was to appeal to all audiences possible at that time. In the end he was rewarded the pamphlet sold an estimated 150,000 copies according to Paine. Not only did it sell but Paine decided to give all the profits to the Continental army to further help the revolution that was brewing. Jefferson helped make the pages of Common Sense come to life by writing the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence was written not for the common man but for the British Government. It was meant to justify the revolution. It did so much more than that. The declaration would for the first time assert “We as the people”, truly tying us together as a nation. Jefferson also attempted to add in the freedom of slaves. Unfortunately this was cut due to protest from Georgia and South Carolina. The one thing that is predominating in both writings is the dislike of the King of