Thomas Paine's Common Sense And The Crisis

Ashleigh Murphy
9/26/16
English 3A
Ms. Abriani
Research Project Thomas Paine 's essays Common Sense and The Crisis are two pieces of literature that relate to the common people, and with it’s message helped instill hope in those unsure of what the outcome for their country, their families, and their freedom would be. These writings have inspired everyone and anyone willing to read it because his literature pieces appealed to all who were interested. No man was superior to another when it came to these essays, because everyone was capable of understanding them. The main points of these writings reflected the main problems between British and American Independence, and his goals were to unify America as one nation. Already upset with British

He focused specifically on the independence of the American people because he was aware that they deserved better, and that Britain was cheating them of their rights. In his essay, The Crisis #1, he directly calls out the British for who they truly are and what they were actually doing. "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;" and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.” This sentence alone speaks right to the heart of the people, and talks on how important and dire it is that we act now, for the sake of our children, and their children’s future. His intentions were to provoke those not aware or those partially conscious of the matters and risks at stake, the country and everyone in its freedom. And that’s exactly what he did to start a revolution. In his second Essay, Common Sense, Paine uses analogies and more factual evidence to prove how unreliable England really was; “But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which part the fault lies; some will say in one and some in another, and every political physician will advise a different medicine.” Their constitution is so complex they won’t be able to notice if someone or something is struggling until it’s too late, and by then his analogy in stating “every political physician will advise a different medicine” means that the men themselves in charge won’t even be able to prescribe the right fix for whatever the problem may be. By using these analogies and relating situations that can happen to regular people, really affected them in wanting to finally stand up for what they needed to see change. Nobody wants to be taken advantage of, and Thomas Paine 's essays helped bring that awareness to all the American Colonists that were being treated