Thomas Paine Against Great Britain

Right after the revolutionary war broke out, Thomas Paine published Common Sense to support independence. On the opposition, the loyalist, James Chalmers, published Plain Truth to argue the benefit of remaining as British colonies.

This essay will be discussing and analyzing the document: Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine was an American founding father and very influential in the the enlightenment movement that started in 1714. Thomas Paine wrote common sense so people would begin thinking and discussing the way the British had been treating the colonies in the recent years. Paine believed that King George and the British parliament were tyrannical and that the colonies should do something about it. Common Sense appealed to many of the colonists because of the plain language Thomas Paine used. Thomas paine’s Common Sense was one of the most influential documents to the American Revolution. This essay also tries to argue that without Paine’s Common Sense the

“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind” (Paine 1). With the Revolutionary War beginning in 1775, and the publication of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, only a year later, this statement was widely recognized and addressed the issue at hand: the fight for independence. According to Paine’s assertion, America’s desire for peace and freedom is a basic necessity of life; it is what all men desire. Despite this innate thirst for liberty, many residents of America’s thirteen colonies were fearful of Great Britain, and because of this fear, complied with Great Britain’s every whim. Consequently, most colonists were hesitant to fight against the mother country for independence. But Paine would not accept this attitude.

The Great Thomas Paine Did you know that more people read Thomas Paine Crisis No. 1 document than the number of people who watch the Superbowl? Thomas Paines document No. 1 gained a lot of attention in the late 1700’s and is still read widely across the world. Thomas was a founding father, but he also was a political figure. He got most of his fame from writing documents about the issues in the U.S during that time. His series of documents was called “The American crisis” and it was broken up into 16 pamphlets and the most famous one was crisis No. 1.

During the 1760s and the 1770s, there was a major problem growing between the two countries: Great Britain and America. The founding fathers of America were in a confusing situation about the tension between the two countries and had to come up with something to do to solve the problem. The major problem at that time was how the colonists were getting treated by Great Britain, and regardless of whether the colonists should declare their independence from Britain. With the creation of Common Sense written by Thomas Paine and the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson, both documents explain why America pushed to declare their independence from Britain. Many people say that Thomas Jefferson used no books, documents,

Thomas Paine wrote a series of articles known collectively as "The Crisis" to support his argument for independence from England during the Revolutionary War. Thomas Paine 's reasoning for writing this collection of articles is rather sound. The call to arms in this document calls “tens of thousands” to arms to battle Great Britain and their unfair rule over their country. Paine was justified in his writing, the unfair rule of the British government did need to be “called out” sort of speak.

Yes his argument was compelling because he used persuasive words that made the King of Britain sound like a monster and a horrible dictator and that they needed independence badly before things got even worse. In Common Sense Paine says this “For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have the right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever and tho’ himself might deserve some decent degree of honours of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them.” Paine was saying that even though the people were born free they would never know how free they really were because they were under harsh dictatorship and basically that is all the people knew back then. Thomas Paine was trying to get to the point that America will eventually become dependent. At times, he introduces this as a simple fact that everyone accepts, but sometimes, he argues for it, quoting the area of the flaw separating the colonies and the English king.

Common Sense was an important stepping stone towards independence. Thomas Paine was a person who advocated and supported egalitarian principles. He believed that all people are equal and deserved equal rights and opportunities. Thomas goal was to influence to people in the Thirteen Colonies to stand for independence from Great Britain. The thirteen colonies were a group of British colonies on the east coast of North America. The thirteen colonies were: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Caroline, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

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. He goes on to say things about how Christianity is the worst of all religions. I personally think this is why he is not recognized as one of our Founding Fathers. Although our religion isn’t not specified here in America, a great

Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlet Common Sense in 1776, the year in which the American revolution took place. Paine wrote this as a call to the American people, to get them to join in the movement to separate from Great Britain. In 1776, the American colonies were ruled by English monarch King George III, who many viewed as an unfair tyrant who completely disregarded the needs of the colonists, and whose reign was a “...long and violent abuse of power…” Paine agreed, as he believed that the colonists were “...grievously oppressed…” and were not granted adequate representation, nor seen as the British citizens which the colonists believed that they were.Motivated by distaste for the English monarchy, over the treatment of the American colonies,

Paine is against America having a connection with Britain and a single person having power. As Paine expresses, King George III is not and should not be able to be in power of the colonists because mankind is created to be equal and therefore kings should be “disapproved by nature” (Paine 217). Not only does Paine express his anger at the topic of a ruler for all, he also voices that America is connected to whatever Britain does and whatever problems Britain has: implying that America has no say what so ever under Britain (Paine 218). Paine is suggesting that Britain is not only hurting but also is subordinating America and its colonies, so a declaration of independence is in need.

Modified Rhetorical Précis of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense Thomas Paine, a British-American political writer, intellectual, and strong advocate of the American Revolution, published several compelling pamphlets in the mid-late 18th century inspiring colonists to rebel against the British government. One of his most influential works, Common Sense (1776), would eventually become the most widely-read political non-fiction of its time. Samuel Adams would later declare that “without the pen of [Thomas Paine], the sword of Washington would be raised in vain.” In Common Sense, Paine powerfully argues that colonists must declare independence from Britain in order to establish a representative democracy founded upon their religious and political beliefs.

Throughout his writing Paine makes many different arguments based on simple common sense such as the fact that England is only a small island while America is a large continent. In addition, Paine makes the argument that it is unreasonable to expect America to stay under the control of England because of the fact that most Americans were descended from the English. Paine states that by that type of reasoning England should be ruled by

“Common Sense” also played a major role in shaping a colonial squabble into the American Revolution. When Paine wrote “Common Sense” many colonist considered themselves to be “aggrieved Britons”. Paine wanted the whole world to be free, his

Aun: In paragraph 2, Thomas Paine tries to explain to the colonists that they have been tricked and that they had made big sacrifices only to be tricked. He says the colonists say that they have the protection of Britain, when Britain’s main motive was interest in the new land, not to attach to it. Britain did not fight for us but fought for itself with people we were at peace with. Britain gave us new enemies. Thomas explains how they should be independant and let Britain fight its own battles with France and