thesis for common sense

A Summary and Analysis of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

After the Declaration of Independence, probably the most important and influential document of the American Revolution was a short pamphlet written not by an American, but by an English writer who had been living in America for less than 15 months.

But although his country of birth was the very nation – Britain – that Americans were fighting against to secure their independence, Thomas Paine was most of the most significant supporters of the American cause.

And Americans were clearly ready to hear what he had to say. Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense , published at the beginning of that momentous year, 1776, rapidly became a bestseller, with an estimated 100,000 copies flying off the shelves, as it were, before the year was out.

Indeed, in proportion to the population of the colonies at that time – a mere 2.5 million people – Common Sense had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history, before or since. Common Sense , it turns out, was fairly common – and very popular.

But what made Paine’s pamphlet of some 25,000 words and 47 pages strike such a chord with Americans in 1776? Why did Paine write Common Sense , and what exactly does the pamphlet say? Before we offer an analysis of this landmark text, here’s a summary of Paine’s argument.

Paine’s pamphlet is a polemical work, so he is not setting out to offer a balanced and even-handed appraisal of the facts. Instead, he views his role as that of rabble-rouser, stoking the fires of revolution in the heart of every American living under British rule in the Thirteen Colonies.

Common Sense is divided into four parts. In the first part, ‘On the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the Constitution’, Paine considers the role of government in abstract terms. For Paine, government is a ‘necessary evil’ because it keeps individuals in check, when their inner ‘evil’ might otherwise break out.

Paine then considers the English constitution, established in 1689 in the wake of the Glorious Revolution . The main problem is that England has monarchy and aristocratic power written into its constitution: the monarchy is a hereditary privilege which the individual king or queen has done nothing personally to ‘earn’, and the same is true of those who sit in the House of Lords and participate in government. (Paine was against all forms of hereditary power, believing the individual should earn whatever role they have.)

In the second part, Paine considers monarchy from a biblical perspective and a historical perspective. Aren’t all men equal when they are created? In that case, the idea that one man – calling himself king – is greater than his subjects, who are but his fellow men, is flawed. He cites various passages from the Old and New Testaments in support of his argument.

For example, he discusses 1 Samuel 8 in which God punishes the people for asking for a king. ‘That the Almighty hath here entered his protest against monarchical government is true,’ Paine argues, ‘or the scripture is false.’ And few of Paine’s God-fearing readers would believe that the Bible could be false in what it showed.

Next, Paine turns from the biblical to the historical argument against monarchical government, point out how past kings have been problematic: for example, the Wars of the Roses lasted for decades and kept England in a state of turmoil as two warring royal houses fought for control of the kingdom. ‘In short,’ Paine concludes, ‘monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes.’

Finally, Paine also attacks the Enlightenment philosopher John Locke ’s notion of a ‘mixed state’, a kind of constitutional monarchy where the monarch has limited powers. For Paine, this isn’t enough: most monarchs who wish to seize more power for themselves will find a way of doing so.

The third part of Common Sense , ‘Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs’, looks at the conflict between Britain and the American colonies, arguing that independence is the most desirable outcome for America. He proposes a Continental Charter which would lead to a new national government, which would take the form of a Congress. He then outlines the form that this would take (each colony, divided into smaller districts, who send delegates to Congress to represent them).

In the fourth and final section of the pamphlet, ‘On the Present Ability of America, with Some Miscellaneous Reflections’, Paine turns to the practicalities of fighting the British, both in terms of money and resources.

He draws attention to America’s strong military potential. Shipyards can be used to provide the timber to create a navy that could rival Britain’s. Economically, too, America is in a strong position because it has no national debt.

Before he arrived in America in 1774, Thomas Paine had a fine series of failures behind him: a onetime corset-maker and customs officer born in Norfolk in 1737, he travelled to the American colonies after Benjamin Franklin, whom he had met in London, put in a good word for him.

Paine was soon editing the Pennsylvania Magazine , and in late 1775 began writing Common Sense , which would rapidly cause a sensation throughout the Thirteen Colonies. George Washington wrote to a friend in Massachusetts, ‘I find that Common Sense is working a powerful change there in the minds of many men’.

What was it about Paine’s pamphlet that caused such a stir? It was partly good timing: anti-British feeling had been growing in the last few years, especially since Britain introduced a range of taxes in 1763 to help fund their wars in Europe and India; such a tax famously led to the Boston Tea Party in 1773, and the British retaliation that swiftly followed.

Nevertheless, in 1775 many Americans living within the Thirteen Colonies still favoured reconciliation with their British overlords. Put simply, many people didn’t have enough enthusiasm to go to war against such a powerful imperial nation as Britain. But Thomas Paine sensed that the appetite for a fight was there, if only someone could stir the populace to action; and he knew the right way to get the ordinary man and woman on side.

So Paine needed to do more than simply lay out the situation to such people. He needed to persuade them by showing in powerful and vivid language that Britain was a power-hungry imperial force under whose boot Americans were always going to suffer – unless, that is, they decided enough was enough.

With Common Sense , Paine helped to win over many of those waverers to the cause for independence. He did this, most of all, not by appealing to scholarly argument or intellectual reasoning but by going for the emotions of his readers (and listeners: many people gathered together to hear someone else read aloud from Paine’s essay). We should bear in mind the ‘common’ part of ‘common sense’: Paine was trying to reach everyone, regardless of education or social rank.

Painting the British king, George III, as a tyrannical power-hungry ruler who had overstepped the mark, Paine made the case against monarchical rule and in favour of democratic government. When Common Sense lit the touchpaper for revolution, Paine was more than prepared to put his money where his mouth is, too. He enlisted in the American army in July 1776 and continued to write pamphlets to boost morale throughout the years of bloody war that followed.

Common Sense was popular in America, but it was also translated into French and was eagerly taken up there. Indeed, Paine’s revolutionary call for an anti-monarchical system of government would later help to inspire the French Revolution in 1789, which Paine supported in its early stages. But it was in America that his revolutionary zeal first galvanised others to fight for independence from the monarch who ruled over them.

Fittingly, it was Thomas Paine, writing under the byline ‘Republicus’ in June 29, 1776, who became the first person to make a public declaration for the new country to be named the ‘United States of America’. An Englishman from rural Norfolk had helped to inspire countless Americans to make their country their own.

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Thomas Paine’s Common Sense , 1776

Advisor: Robert A. Ferguson , George Edward Woodberry Professor in Law, Literature and Criticism, Columbia University, National Humanities Center Fellow. Copyright National Humanities Center, 2014

Lesson Contents

Teacher’s note.

• Text Analysis & Close Reading Questions

Follow-Up Assignment

• Student Version PDF

How did Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense convince reluctant Americans to abandon the goal of reconciliation with Britain and accept that separation from Britain — independence — was the only option for preserving their liberty?

Understanding.

By January 1776, the American colonies were in open rebellion against Britain. Their soldiers had captured Fort Ticonderoga, besieged Boston, fortified New York City, and invaded Canada. Yet few dared voice what most knew was true — they were no longer fighting for their rights as British subjects. They weren’t fighting for self-defense, or protection of their property, or to force Britain to the negotiating table. They were fighting for independence. It took a hard jolt to move Americans from professed loyalty to declared rebellion, and it came in large part from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense . Not a dumbed-down rant for the masses, as often described, Common Sense is a masterful piece of argument and rhetoric that proved the power of words.

Literary nonfiction; persuasive essay. In the Text Analysis section, Tier 2 vocabulary words are defined in pop-ups, and Tier 3 words are explained in brackets.

Text Complexity

Grades 9-10 complexity band.

For more information on text complexity see these resources from achievethecore.org .

Click here for standards and skills for this lesson.

Common Core State Standards

• ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.6 (Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.)

Advanced Placement US History

• 3.2 (IB) (Republican forms of government found expression in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense .)

Advanced Placement English Language and Composition

• Reading nonfiction
• Analyzing and identifying and author’s use of rhetorical strategies

This lesson focuses on the sections central to Paine’s argument in Common Sense — Section III and the Appendix to the Third Edition, published a month after the first edition. We do not recommend assigning the full essay (Sections I, II, and IV require advanced background in British history that Paine’s readers would have known well). However, students should be led through an overview of the essay to understand how Paine built his arguments to a “self-evident” conclusion (See Background: Message , below.)

Lead students through an initial overview of the essay (see Background ). To begin, they could skim the full text and read the pull-quotes (separated quotes in large bold text). What impression of Common Sense do the quotes provide? What questions do they prompt? Then guide students as they read (perhaps aloud) Section III of Common Sense and the Appendix to the Third Edition (pp. 10-19 and 25-29 in the full text provided with this lesson).

Proceed to the close reading of three excerpts in the Text Analysis below. (Note that part of Excerpt #3 is a Common Core exemplar text.)

This lesson is divided into two parts, both accessible below. The teacher’s guide includes a background note, the text analysis with responses to the close reading questions, access to the interactive exercises, and a follow-up assignment. The student’s version, an interactive worksheet that can be e-mailed, contains all of the above except the responses to the close reading questions.

Teacher’s Guide

The man at right does not look angry. To us, he projects the typical figure of a “Founding Father” — composed, elite, and empowered. And to us his famous essays are awash in powdered-wig prose. But the portrait and the prose belie the reality. Thomas Paine was a firebrand, and his most influential essay — Common Sense — was a fevered no-holds-barred call for independence. He is credited with turning the tide of public opinion at a crucial juncture, convincing many Americans that war for independence was the only option to take, and they had to take it now , or else.

Common Sense appeared as a pamphlet for sale in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776, and, as we say today, it went viral. The first printing sold out in two weeks and over 150,000 copies were sold throughout America and Europe. It is estimated that one fifth of Americans read the pamphlet or heard it read aloud in public. General Washington ordered it read to his troops. Within weeks, it seemed, reconciliation with Britain had gone from an honorable goal to a cowardly betrayal, while independence became the rallying cry of united Patriots. How did Paine achieve this?

“Sometime past the idea [of independence] would have struck me with horror. I now see no alternative;… Can any virtuous and brave American hesitate one moment in the choice?” The Pennsylvania Evening Post , 13 February 1776

“We were blind, but on reading these enlightening works the scales have fallen from our eyes…. The doctrine of Independence hath been in times past greatly disgustful; we abhorred the principle. It is now become our delightful theme and commands our purest affections. We revere the author and highly prize and admire his works.” The New-London [Connecticut] Gazette , 22 March 1776

2. Message.

What made Common Sense so esteemed and “enlightening”? Some argue that Common Sense said nothing new, that it simply put the call-to-war in fiery street language that rallied the common people. But this trivializes Paine’s accomplishment. He did have a new message in Common Sense — an ultimatum. Give up reconciliation now, or forever lose the chance for independence. If we fail to act, we’re self-deceiving cowards condemning our children to tyranny and cheating the world of a beacon of liberty. It is our calling to model self-actualized nationhood for the world. “The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.”

Paine divided Common Sense into four sections with deceptively mundane titles, mimicking the erudite political pamphlets of the day. But his essay did not offer the same-old-same-old treatise on British heritage and American rights. Here’s what he says in Common Sense :

Introduction : The ideas I present here are so new that many people will reject them. Readers must clear their minds of long-held notions, apply common sense, and adopt the cause of America as the “cause of all mankind.” How we respond to tyranny today will matter for all time. Section One : The English government you worship? It’s a sham. Man may need government to protect him from his flawed nature, but that doesn’t mean he must suffocate under brute tyranny. Just as you would cut ties with abusive parents, you must break from Britain. Section Two : The monarchy you revere? It’s not our protector; it’s our enemy. It doesn’t care about us; it cares about Britain’s wealth. It has brought misery to people all over the world. And the very idea of monarchy is absurd. Why should someone rule over us simply because he (or she) is someone’s child? So evil is monarchy by its very nature that God condemns it in the Bible. Section Three : Our crisis today? It’s folly to think we should maintain loyalty to a distant tyrant. It’s self-sabotage to pursue reconciliation. For us, right here, right now, reconciliation means ruin. America must separate from Britain. We can’t go back to the cozy days before the Stamp Act. You know that’s true; it’s time to admit it. For heaven’s sake, we’re already at war! Section Four : Can we win this war? Absolutely! Ignore the naysayers who tremble at the thought of British might. Let’s build a Continental Navy as we have built our Continental Army. Let us declare independence. If we delay, it will be that much harder to win. I know the prospect is daunting, but the prospect of inaction is terrifying.

A month later, in his appendix to the third edition, Paine escalated his appeal to a utopian fervor. “We have it in our power to begin the world over again,” he insisted. “The birthday of a new world is at hand.”

3. Rhetoric.

“It is necessary to be bold,” wrote Paine years later on his rhetorical power. “Some people can be reasoned into sense, and others must be shocked into it. Say a bold thing that will stagger them, and they will begin to think.” 4 Keep this idea front and center as you study Common Sense .

As an experienced essayist and a recent English immigrant with his own deep resentments against Britain, Paine was the right man at the right time to galvanize public opinion. He “understood better than anyone else in America,” explains literary scholar Robert Ferguson, “that ‘style and manner of thinking’ might dictate the difficult shift from loyalty to rebellion.” 5 Before Paine, the language of political essays had been moderate. Educated men wrote civilly for publication and kept their fury for private letters and diaries. Then came Paine, cursing Britain as an “open enemy,” denouncing George III as the “Royal Brute of England,” and damning reconciliation as “truly farcical” and “a fallacious dream.” To think otherwise, he charged, was “absurd,” “unmanly,” and “repugnant to reason.” As Virginian Landon Carter wrote in dismay, Paine implied that anyone who disagreed with him “is nothing short of a coward and a sycophant [stooge/lackey], which in plain meaning must be a damned rascal.” 6 Paine knew what he was doing: the pen was his weapon, and words his ammunition. He argued with ideas while convincing with raw emotion. “The point to remember,” writes Ferguson, “is that Paine’s natural and intended audience is the American mob…. He uses anger, the natural emotion of the mob, to let the most active groups find themselves in the general will of a republican citizenry.” 7 What if Paine had written the Declaration of Independence with the same hard-driving rhetoric?

AS JEFFERSON WROTE IT: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. IF PAINE HAD WRITTEN IT: NO man can deny, without abandoning his God-given ability to reason, that all men enter into existence as equals. No matter how lowly or majestic their origins, they enter life with three God-given RIGHTS — the right to live, to right to live free, and the right to live happily (or, at the least, to pursue Happiness on earth). Who would choose existence on any other terms? So treasured are these rights that man created government to protect them. So treasured are they that man is duty-bound to destroy any government that crushes them — and start anew as men worthy of the title of FREE MEN. This is the plain truth, impossible to refute.

Text Analysis

Close reading questions.

Imagine yourself sitting down to read Common Sense in January 1776. How does Paine introduce his reasoning to you? He announces that his logic will be direct and down to earth, using only “simple facts” and “plain arguments” to explain his position, unlike (he implies) the complex political pamphlets addressed to the educated elite. His audience would understand “common sense” to suggest the moral sense of the yeoman farmer, whose independence and clear-headedness made him a more reliable guardian of national virtue (similar to Jefferson’s agrarian ideal).

Why does he write “I offer nothing more” instead of “I offer you many reasons” or “I offer a detailed argument”? “Nothing more” implies that Common Sense will be easy to follow, presenting only what is necessary to make his argument. (Paine considered titling his essay Plain Truth .)

How does Paine ask you to prepare yourself for his “common sense” arguments? Be willing to put aside pre-conceived notions, he says, and judge his arguments on their own merits.

What does he imply by saying a fair reader “will put on , or rather than he will not put off , the true character of a man”? He implies that any reader who would refuse to consider his arguments is narrow-minded. With the “on”–”off” contrast, he suggests that you, the individual reader, are open-minded and thus a fellow man of honor willing to consider a new point of view.

PARAGRAPH 55

With the hyperboles, how does Paine lead you to view the “cause” of American independence? View it, he says, from an overarching global perspective, not the narrow perspective of American colonists in the late 1700s. The hyperboles are ultimates — the most worthy of worthy causes, affecting the future now and forever . The American cause can lead mankind toward enlightened self-determination, driving forward the progress of civilization. Paine says this directly in his introduction: “The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.” We’re not just talking taxes and representation, people.

What tone does Paine add with the phrases “The sun never shined” and “even to the end of time”? A biblical and prophetic tone. The sun shining down on human endeavors suggests divine endorsement of the American cause — a cause that will bring light and freedom (“salvation”) to the world. Resisting the cause, Paine implies, would be resisting divine will.

Let’s consider Paine as a wordsmith. How does he use repetition to add impact to the first part of the paragraph? He includes two repetitive sets: 1. “’Tis not” to begin sentences 2 and 3 [anaphora] 2. the phrases “of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom” and “of a day, a year, or an age” [prepositions with multiple objects]. Read the section aloud to hear the insistent rhythm that elevates Paine’s prose to a rousing call to action (his goal in writing Common Sense ).

Paine ends this paragraph with an analogy: What we do now is like carving initials into the bark of a young oak tree. What does he mean with the analogy? A. This is the time to create a new nation. Our smallest efforts now will lead to enormous benefits in the future. B. This is the time to unite for independence. Discord among us now will escalate into future crises that could ruin the young nation. Answer: B. The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ’Tis not the affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent – of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. ’Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental [colonies’] union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters.

PARAGRAPH 58

What sound repetitions do you find? Alliteration: ar gument/ ar ms/ ar ea/ ar isen p lans/ pr oposals/ pr ior/A pr il Consonance: politi cs /stru ck me th od/ th inking/ha th m atter/argu m ent/ar m s

Read the sentences aloud. What impact does the repetition add to Paine’s delivery? A stirring oratorical rhythm is achieved, like that of a solemn speech or sermon meant to convey the truth and gravity of an argument.

Paine compares the attempts to reconcile with Britain after the Battle of Lexington and Concord to an old almanac. What does he mean? He means the idea of reconciliation is now preposterous and that no rational person could support it. No one would use last year’s almanac to make plans for the current year! Also, as an almanac ceases to be useful at a specific moment (midnight of December 31), Paine implies that reconciliation ceased to be a valid goal at the moment of the first shot on April 19, 1775. (Paine often alludes to aspects of colonial life, like almanacs, that would resonate with all readers. They include references to farming, tree cutting, hunting, land ownership, slavery, biblical scripture, family and neighbor bonds, maturation, and the parent-child relationship; see “The Metaphor of Youth” below.) By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new area for politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, etc., prior to the nineteenth of April, i.e., to the commencement of hostilities [Lexington and Concord], are like the almanacs of the last year which, though proper [accurate] then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then, terminated in one and the same point, viz. [that is], a union with Great Britain. The only difference between the parties was the method of effecting it — the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happened that the first hath failed and the second hath withdrawn her influence.

With this in mind, what tone does he lead the reader to expect: cynical, impatient, hopeful, reasonable, impassioned, angry? Reasonable. The two sentences resemble the opening of a legal argument that promises a balanced appraisal of two options on the basis of known evidence (“principles of nature”) and honest ordinary reasoning (“common sense”).

How does his tone prepare the resistant reader? Paine means to deflect challenges of bias or extremism by inviting readers to give him a hearing. “If I’m being fair in my writing, you can try to be fair in your listening.”

While Paine promises a fair appraisal, look how he describes the two options in the last sentence. Option 1: “if separated” from Britain Option 2: “if dependent on Britain” Why didn’t he use the usual terms for the two options — “independence” and “reconciliation”? First, INDEPENDENCE and RECONCILIATION sound like equally plausible options, but Paine wants to convince you that independence is the only acceptable option. If so, then why did he choose SEPARATION instead of INDEPENDENCE? By January 1776, INDEPENDENCE carried the drastic connotations of war and treason. It was an irrevocable decision with unknown consequences. In contrast, SEPARATION seems less drastic, and even positive. In human development, separation from one’s parents is the natural and long-sought step to full adulthood. That’s the self-image Paine wants to foster in his readers. Are we adults or children? [See the activity below, “The Metaphor of Youth”.]

In this vein, Paine chose DEPENDENCE instead of RECONCILIATION for Option 2 (staying with Britain). RECONCILIATION suggests the calm and rational agreement of two grownups, but Paine wants you to view reconciliation as the defeatist choice of spineless subjects who could never take care of themselves. In other words, DEPENDENCE.

[Note: Paine does call the two options “independence” and “reconciliation” elsewhere in Common Sense , but he meant to avoid them here.] As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but right that we should examine the contrary [opposing] side of the argument and inquire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with and dependent on Great Britain. To examine that connection and dependence, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to [expect] if separated, and what we are to expect if dependent.

PARAGRAPH 60

Here Paine rebuts the first argument for reconciliation—that America has thrived as a British colony and would fail on her own. How does he dismiss this argument? He slams it down hard. “NOTHING can be more FALLACIOUS,” he yells. The argument is beyond misdirected or short-sighted, he insists; it’s a fatal error in reasoning. So much for calm and reasoned debate. But Paine is not having a temper tantrum in print. His technique was to argue with ideas while convincing with emotion.

Paine follows his utter rejection of the argument with an analogy. Complete the analogy: America staying with Britain would be like a child _______. “America staying with Britain would be like a child remaining dependent on its parents forever and never growing up.” And who would want that, Paine implies? By writing “first twenty years of our lives” instead of, say, “first five years,” Paine alludes to the general consensus that a twenty-year-old is an adult.

Paine goes one step further in the last sentence. What does he say about America’s “childhood” as a British colony? He “answers roundly” (with conviction) that the colonies’ growth was actually hampered by being part of a European empire. They would have been more healthy and successful “adults,” he insists, if they had not been the “children” of the British empire. This was a radical premise in 1776, but one that buttressed Paine’s argument for independence I have heard it asserted by some that as America hath flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, that the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true; for I answer roundly that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had anything to do with her.

PARAGRAPH 61

Here Paine challenges his opponents to bring “reconciliation to the touchstone of nature.” What does he mean? (A “touchstone” is a test of the quality or genuineness of something. From ancient times the purity of gold or silver was tested with a “touchstone” of basalt stone.) Test the chances of reconciliation against what you know about people’s reactions in similar crises throughout history, not against your own hopes and fears during this particular crisis. In other words, use common sense.

At the start of this paragraph Paine mildly faults the supporters of reconciliation as unrealistic optimists “still hoping for the best.” By the end of the paragraph, however, they are cowards willing to “shake hands with the murderers.” How did he construct the paragraph to accomplish this transition? He poses two challenges to the supporters of reconciliation. If they can honestly answer each challenge, he asserts, and still support reconciliation, then they are selfish cowards bringing ruin to America.

Paraphrase the first challenge (sentences 2–5). “Ask yourself if you can remain loyal to a nation that has brought war and suffering to you. If you say you can, you’re fooling yourself and condemning us to a worse life under Britain than we suffer now.”

Paraphrase the second challenge (sentences 6–11). “Have you been the victim of British violence? If you haven’t, then you still owe compassion to those who have. And if you have, yet still support reconciliation, then you have abandoned your conscience.”

With what phrase does Paine condemn those who would still hope for reconciliation even if they were victims of British violence? They are men who “can still shake hands with the murderers,” i.e., men who have betrayed their fellow Americans and thus become as evil as the British invaders. There is no nuance in this condemnation, and thus no way for the reader to avoid its implications.

Note how Paine weaves impassioned questions through the paragraph: “Are you only deceiving yourselves?” “Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands?” How do these questions intensify his challenges? Addressed to “you” directly and not a faceless “he or they,” the questions deliver an in-your-face challenge that allows no escape. Here’s my question to you: Answer it! or your silence will reveal your cowardice.

Rewrite sentences #4 and #11 to change the second-person “you” to the third-person “he/she/they.” How does the change weaken Paine’s challenges? The reader is off the hook. Since the challenges are deflected from “you,” the reader, to the third-person “other,” no immediate personal reply is demanded. The reader can blithely read on and avoid the aim of Paine’s questions.

PARAGRAPH 77

At this point, Paine pleads with his readers to write the constitution for their independent nation without delay. What danger do they risk, he warns, if they leave this crucial task to a later day? A colonial leader could grasp dictatorial power by taking advantage of the postwar disorder likely to result if the colonies have no constitution ready to implement. Even if Britain tried to regain control of the colonies, it could be too late to wrest control back from a powerful dictator. “Ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny,” Paine warns, “by keeping vacant the seat of government.”

What historical evidence does Paine offer to illustrate the danger? He states that “some Massanello may hereafter arise” and grasp power, alluding to the short-lived people’s revolt led by the commoner Thomas Aniello (Masaniello) in 1647 against Spanish control of Naples (Italy). The Spanish ruler granted a few rights, but Masaniello was soon murdered, ending the uprising and its short-lived gains for the people.

As his plea escalates in intensity, Paine exclaims “Ye that oppose independence now, ye know not what ye do.” To what climactic moment in the New Testament does he allude? While suffering on the cross before his death, Jesus calls out, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23: 34); that is, his crucifiers do not know they are killing the Son of God. With this compelling allusion (which most readers would instantly recognize), Paine warns that opposing independence is as calamitous a decision for Americans as killing Jesus was for his executioners and for mankind.

Paine heightens his apocalyptic tone as he appeals to “ye that love mankind” to accept a mission of salvation (alluding to Christ’s mission of salvation). What must the lovers of mankind achieve in order to save mankind? They must establish the “free and independent States of America” as the sole preserve of human freedom in the world. A desperate fugitive, “freedom” has been “hunted” and “expelled” throughout the world, and it is America’s mission to protect and nurture her. America’s victory will be mankind’s victory, not just the feat of thirteen small colonies in a distant corner of the world.

NOTE: “A government of our own is our natural right” asserts Paine at the beginning of this excerpt. Six months later Thomas Jefferson asserted the same right in the opening of the Declaration of Independence. This Enlightenment ideal anchored revolutionary initiatives in America and Europe for decades.

O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her.—Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.

* Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his countrymen in the public marketplace against the oppression of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day become King. [footnote in Paine]

PARAGRAPHS 104, 107

• Write a how-to essay on persuasive writing using Common Sense as the focus text and this statement by Thomas Paine as the core idea: “Some people can be reasoned into sense, and others must be shocked into it. Say a bold thing that will stagger them, and they will begin to think.” –Letter to Elihu Palmer, 21 February 1802.

Quotation Para. Metaphor “The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.” 58 light, newness, glory “The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries “‘TIS TIME TO PART.” 73 massacre, suffering “Reconciliation is now a fallacious dream.” 79 illusion, vain hope “It is now in the interest of America to provide for herself.” 144 adulthood, self-reliance “Independence is the only BOND that can tie and keep us together.” 163 tying cord, unity for survival

• See colonists’ and newspapers’ responses to Common Sense in the primary source collection Making the Revolution (Section: Common Sense?) to examine how Paine turned public opinion in 1776. Note the critical pieces by John Adams, Hannah Griffitts, and others. What can be learned about Paine’s effectiveness by studying his critics?

Vocabulary Pop-ups

[including 18th-c. connotations]

• posterity : all future generations of mankind
• superseded : replaced something old or no longer useful
• precedent : an action or policy that serves as an example or rule for the future
• touchstone : as a metaphor, a test of the quality or genuineness of something. (in the past, the purity of gold or silver was tested with a “toughstone” of basalt stone.)
• relapse : a return to a previous worse condition after a period of improvement
• sycophant : someone who acts submissively to another in power in order to gain advantage; yes-man, flatterer, bootlicker
• precariousness : uncertainty, instability; dependence on chance circumstances or unknown conditions
• deluge : a cataclysmic flood

1. Benjamin Franklin, letter to Silas Deane, 27 August 1775. Full text in Founders Online (National Archives). ↩ 2. Elbridge Gerry, letter to James Warren, 26 March 1776. ↩ 3. John Adams, autobiography, part 1, “John Adams,” through 1776, sheet 23 of 53 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive . Massachusetts Historical Society. www.masshist.org/digitaladams/. ↩ 4. Thomas Paine, letter to Elihu Palmer, 21 February 1802; cited in Henry Hayden Clark, “Thomas Paine’s Theories of Rhetoric,” Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters , 28 (1933), 317. ↩ 5. Robert A. Ferguson, “The Commonalities of Common Sense ,” William and Mary Quarterly , 3d. Series, 57:3 (July 2000), 483. ↩ 6. Landon Carter, diary entry, 20 February 1776, recounting content of letter written that day to George Washington. Full entry in Founders Online (National Archives). ↩ 7. Robert A. Ferguson, The American Enlightenment , 1750-1820 (Harvard University Press, 1994; paper ed., 1997), 113. ↩

*For a helpful discussion of Paine’s response to the “horrid cruelties” of the British in India, see J.M. Opal, “ Common Sense and Imperial Atrocity: How Thomas Paine Saw South Asia in North America, ” Common-Place , July 2009.

Images courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Library.

• Portrait of Thomas Paine by John Henry Bufford (1810-1870), engraving by Bufford’s Lithography, ca. 1850. Record ID 268504.
• Title page (cover) of Common Sense , 1776. Record ID 2052092.

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Thomas Paine

By: History.com Editors

Updated: July 29, 2022 | Original: November 9, 2009

Thomas Paine was an England-born political philosopher and writer who supported revolutionary causes in America and Europe. Published in 1776 to international acclaim, “Common Sense” was the first pamphlet to advocate American independence. After writing the “The American Crisis” papers during the Revolutionary War, Paine returned to Europe and offered a stirring defense of the French Revolution with “Rights of Man.” His political views led to a stint in prison; after his release, he produced his last great essay, “The Age of Reason,” a controversial critique of institutionalized religion and Christian theology.

WATCH: The Revolution on HISTORY Vault  

Early Years

Thomas Paine was born January 29, 1737, in Norfolk, England, the son of a Quaker corset maker and his older Anglican wife.

Paine apprenticed for his father but dreamed of a naval career, attempting once at age 16 to sign onto a ship called The Terrible , commanded by someone named Captain Death, but Paine’s father intervened.

Three years later he did join the crew of the privateer ship King of Prussia , serving for one year during the Seven Years' War .

Paine Emigrates to America

In 1768, Paine began work as an excise officer on the Sussex coast. In 1772, he wrote his first pamphlet, an argument tracing the work grievances of his fellow excise officers. Paine printed 4,000 copies and distributed them to members of British Parliament .

In 1774, Paine met Benjamin Franklin , who is believed to have persuaded Paine to immigrate to America, providing Paine with a letter of introduction. Three months later, Paine was on a ship to America, nearly dying from a bout of scurvy.

Paine immediately found work in journalism when he arrived in Philadelphia, becoming managing editor of Philadelphia Magazine .

He wrote in the magazine–under the pseudonyms “Amicus” and “Atlanticus”–criticizing the Quakers for their pacifism and endorsing a system similar to Social Security .

'Common Sense'

Paine’s most famous pamphlet, “Common Sense,” was first published on January 10, 1776, selling out its thousand printed copies immediately. By the end of that year, 150,000 copies–an enormous amount for its time–had been printed and sold. (It remains in print today.)

“Common Sense” is credited as playing a crucial role in convincing colonists to take up arms against England. In it, Paine argues that representational government is superior to a monarchy or other forms of government based on aristocracy and heredity.

The pamphlet proved so influential that John Adams reportedly declared, “Without the pen of the author of ‘Common Sense,’ the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.”

Paine also claimed that the American colonies needed to break with England in order to survive and that there would never be a better moment in history for that to happen. He argued that America was related to Europe as a whole, not just England, and that it needed to freely trade with nations like France and Spain.

READ MORE: How Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense' Helped Inspire the American Revolution

The American Crisis

As the Revolutionary War began, Paine enlisted and met General George Washington , whom Paine served under.

The terrible condition of Washington’s troops during the winter of 1776 prompted Paine to publish a series of inspirational pamphlets known as “The American Crisis,” which opens with the famous line “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

Political Career of Thomas Paine

Starting in April 1777, Paine worked for two years as secretary to the Congressional Committee for Foreign Affairs and then became the clerk for the Pennsylvania Assembly at the end of 1779.

In March 1780, the assembly passed an abolition act that freed 6,000 enslaved people , to which Paine wrote the preamble.

Paine didn’t make much money from his government work and no money from his pamphlets–despite their unprecedented popularity–and in 1781 he approached Washington for help. Washington appealed to Congress to no avail, and went so far as to plead with all the state assemblies to pay Paine a reward for his work.

Only two states agreed: New York gifted Paine a house and a 277-acre estate in New Rochelle , while Pennsylvania awarded him a small monetary compensation.

The Revolution over, Paine explored other pursuits, including inventing a smokeless candle and designing bridges.

'Rights of Man'

Paine published his book Rights of Man in two parts in 1791 and 1792, a rebuttal of the writing of Irish political philosopher Edmund Burke and his attack on the French Revolution , which Paine supported.

Paine journeyed to Paris to oversee a French translation of the book in the summer of 1792. Paine’s visit was concurrent with the capture of Louis XVI , and he witnessed the monarch’s return to Paris.

Paine himself was threatened with execution by hanging when he was mistaken for an aristocrat, and he soon ran afoul of the Jacobins , who eventually ruled over France during the Reign of Terror , the bloodiest and most tumultuous years of the French Revolution.

In 1793 Paine was arrested for treason because of his opposition to the death penalty, most specifically the mass use of the guillotine and the execution of Louis XVI. He was detained in Luxembourg, where he began work on his next book, The Age of Reason .

Letter to George Washington

Released in 1794, partly thanks to the efforts of the then-new American minister to France, James Monroe , Paine became convinced that George Washington had conspired with French revolutionary politician Maximilien de Robespierre to have Paine imprisoned.

In retaliation, Paine published his “Letter to George Washington” attacking his former friend, accusing him of fraud and corruption in the military and as president.

But Washington was still very popular, and the letter diminished Paine’s popularity in America. The Federalists used the letter in accusations that Paine was a tool for French revolutionaries who also sought to overthrow the new American government.

'The Age of Reason'

Paine’s two-volume treatise on religion, The Age of Reason , was published in 1794 and 1795, with a third part appearing in 1802.

The first volume functions as a criticism of Christian theology and organized religion in favor of reason and scientific inquiry. Though often mistaken as an atheist text, The Age of Reason is actually an advocacy of deism and a belief in God.

The second volume is a critical analysis of the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible , questioning the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Immediately following the Washington debacle, however, The Age of Reason marked the end of Paine’s credibility in the United States, where he became largely despised.

Final Years and Death

By 1802, Paine was able to sail to Baltimore. Welcomed by President Thomas Jefferson , whom he had met in France, Paine was a recurring guest at the White House .

Still, newspapers denounced him and he was sometimes refused services. A minister in New York was dismissed because he shook hands with Paine.

In 1806, despite failing health, Paine worked on the third part of his “Age of Reason,” and also a criticism of Biblical prophesies called “An Essay on Dream.”

Paine died on June 8, 1809, in New York City , and was buried on his property in New Rochelle. On his deathbed, his doctor asked him if he wished to accept Jesus Christ before passing. “I have no wish to believe on that subject,” Paine replied before taking his final breath.

Paine's Remains

Paine’s remains were stolen in 1819 by British radical newspaperman William Cobbett and shipped to England in order to give Paine a more worthy burial. Paine’s bones were discovered by customs inspectors in Liverpool, but allowed to pass through.

Cobbett claimed that his plan was to display Paine’s bones in order to raise money for a proper memorial. He also fashioned jewelry made with hair removed from Paine’s skull for fundraising purposes.

Cobbett spent some time in Newgate Prison and after briefly being displayed, Paine’s bones ended up in Cobbett’s cellar until he died. Estate auctioneers refused to sell human remains and the bones became hard to trace.

Rumors of the remains’ whereabouts sprouted up through the years with little or no validation, including an Australian businessman who claimed to purchase the skull in the 1990s.

In 2001, the city of New Rochelle launched an effort to gather the remains and give Paine a final resting place. The Thomas Paine National Historical Association in New Rochelle claims to have possession of brain fragments and locks of hair.

Thomas Paine. Jerome D. Wilson and William F. Ricketson . Thomas Paine. A.J. Ayer . The Trouble With Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine. Paul Collins . Rehabilitating Thomas Paine, Bit by Bony Bit. The New York Times .

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Common Sense

Thomas paine, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

The Role of Government

Thomas Paine ’s 1776 political pamphlet, Common Sense , was revolutionary in a number of ways. Paine was one of the first to openly advocate for American independence from Great Britain, and in doing so, he sought to appeal to the everyday colonial American reader instead of to fellow political theorists. In order to make his radical case, he first lays the groundwork for his argument by discussing the nature of government itself, building on…

The Case Against Monarchy

After establishing his views on government in general, Paine takes the more radical step of arguing that monarchy is a bankrupt institution and must be abandoned. In his view, there are many absurdities of monarchy to choose from, such as the isolation and ignorance of rulers from those they govern: “There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy […] The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of…

Independence vs. Dependence

Paine ’s major goal in Common Sense is to convince his American readership to embrace the cause of independence. To do that, he builds a case that remaining connected to Great Britain would be harmful to the American colonies. By first building on the imagery of America’s “ childhood ” in a variety of ways and presenting long-term risks of reliance on the “mother country,” Paine implies that America’s subservience to Britain is inherently unhealthy…

Reason, Morality, and Rhetoric

Paine argues that “a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.” This is a good summary of Paine’s approach throughout Common Sense —of making a rhetorical appeal to his readership’s ability to evaluate long-held traditional assumptions. Though he characterizes this evaluative ability as mere…

Common Sense Themes

By thomas paine.

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Written by Timothy Sexton

A Declaration of Independence

Before Thomas Jefferson ever picked up his quill, Thomas Paine had composed a declaration of independence for the colonies from England. The entire structure of the logical progression of the narrative leads inexorably and inevitably to one single passage which commences with the assertion: “nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for independence. Paine thereupon proceeds to outline four distinct arguments supporting the contention that fighting for complete and total independence from Britain is preferable to negotiating a reconciliation which leaves dependency intact.

The Pestilence of Monarchy

Throughout the text, Paine paints monarchy as a pestilential form of government conceived in sin and which succeeds only in which creating tyrants who rule over a degraded public. Monarchy created aristocracy and aristocracy in turn created corrupt system of succession. Taken together, the system of government which ruled Europe for centuries brought to the masses of its population nothing but blood, poverty and inequality. A revolution for independence from England would therefore be just the first step in the dismantling of a heinous system.

The Purpose of Government

Paine commences his arguments by defining the terms and conditions of government. The concept of government is containment: it exists to keep natural inclinations toward “wickedness” in check so that a society can thrive. The purpose of government is to act as a restraint upon the darker impulses of human nature which potentially serve to undermine the natural inclinations of a society to progress, pursue happiness and populate. Since government exists fundamentally to ensure a positive outcome by acting in a negative capacity, the logical outcome of this consideration is directly addressed by Paine who identifies that form of government which ensures the “least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.”

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Common Sense Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Common Sense is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Common Sense

Common Sense study guide contains a biography of Thomas Paine, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Common Sense
• Common Sense Summary
• Character List

Essays for Common Sense

Common Sense essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Common Sense by Thomas Paine.

• Making Sense of the U.S. Government: Thomas Paine's Vision and the Reality of American Institutions

Wikipedia Entries for Common Sense

• Introduction
• Publication
• Response and Impact

Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” Analysis Research Paper

Common Sense as written by Thomas Paine was initially published in 1776 during the time of the American Revolution. It was a pamphlet that provided the colonists in America with arguments to get independence from the rule and occupation of the British. It is well-known that Common Sense reached out to hundreds of thousands of people who were desperate to get independence and inspired them into a fight for their liberty.

At a time when a lot of uncertainty prevailed after the war, Paine won over the American people with his simple words which served as motive power for people to get confident about what they wanted. He made them realize that rulers were in fact the representatives of the people and that the Monarchy of the British government had no basis to rule over them. The pamphlet was aimed at convincing people that they should not be ruled by a King who was born to rule rather than has been chosen by people to govern for them, in other words, the fact that the British Monarch had inherited his right to be a king, did not mean that he could govern for the people of America.

Common Sense did not simply try to convince people that they had to fight for their independence. Its aim was to demonstrate the incompetence of the government. Paine himself kept to the point that government might be a necessary evil, but it had to work in the best interests of people taking care of their welfare and expectations. The pamphlet made people suddenly realize that they deserved proper representation. By his work, Paine inspired a vast majority of Americans, and not only men but women (for instance, Abigail Williams) whose most utmost desire was getting independence from their husbands. At the time when the pamphlet was released, independence was much desired and Paine reached out to a large number of people at an appropriate time defending independence from the British. Moreover, the pamphlet made people realize the importance of American independence, which marked the beginning of a radical movement.

Apart from working on Common Sense, Paine is known for having a number of occupations in Britain before his coming to America in 1774. Firstly, he worked as a supernumerary officer at Thetford from 1761 to 1762. After that, he got a position of an excise officer in 1762 in Lincolnshire, and in August 1765, he was fired from this position for committing alleged discrepancies. Until he was reinstated to the position of an excise officer, he worked for some time as a stay maker in Norfolk and then as a servant for some nobility. Paine was a minister of the Church of England until 1767 after which he got work as a school teacher in London. From February 1768, he worked with Lewis in East Sussex where he developed an interest in civic matters and was introduced to members of the elite intellectual society called Society of Twelve which indulged in discussions of town politics. Paine actively associated with the church group Vestry that made collections to be distributed amongst the poor. During the years 1772 and 1773, he was occupied in working with excise officers who demanded the parliament to improve their working conditions and increase their payments. This occupation inspired Paine to the creation of his first political work titled The Case of the Officers of Excise. Finally, in 1774 he was introduced to Benjamin Franklin by a friend who recommended his emigration to America and he arrived in Philadelphia on November 30 th , 1774.

In sum, Thomas Paine had numerous occupations before arriving in America in 1774 where he published his Common Sense, a pamphlet, which has strongly influenced American people’s ideology and contributed greatly to their fight for independence.

Works Cited

Hitchens, Christopher. Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man: A Biography. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007.

Paine, Thomas. Essential Thomas Paine: Common Sense, The Rights of Man. Plume, 1984.

Roark, James L. American Promise, 4 th Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008.

• Chicago (A-D)
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IvyPanda. (2021, December 3). Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/thomas-paines-common-sense/

"Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” Analysis." IvyPanda , 3 Dec. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/thomas-paines-common-sense/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” Analysis'. 3 December.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” Analysis." December 3, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/thomas-paines-common-sense/.

1. IvyPanda . "Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” Analysis." December 3, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/thomas-paines-common-sense/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” Analysis." December 3, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/thomas-paines-common-sense/.

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Common Sense by Thomas Paine

As 1776 began, America’s rebellion against British colonial rule was not yet a revolution.  Less than half the projected number of volunteers had enlisted in the Continental army with desertions mounting.  George Washington was entrenched, but stalemated in Cambridge outside of Boston. The British Commander, General John Burgoyne, mocked the situation by writing and producing the satirical play, “The Blockade”, which portrayed Washington as an incompetent flailing a rusty sword.  Then something amazing happened.

“Common Sense” was published on January 9, 1776.  It remains one of the most indispensable documents of America’s founding.  In forty-eight pages, Thomas Paine accomplished three things fundamental to America.   He is the first to publically assert the only possible outcome of the rebellion is independence from Great Britain. He makes the case for American independence understandable and accessible to everyone.  He lays the ground work for the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Paine is both the most unlikely and likely person to accomplish this pivotal Trifecta.  He was born in rural England on January 29, 1737, the son of a Quaker father and an Anglican mother. This religious diversity formed a key part of his early writings on religious freedom. His career was a mixture of failed business ventures, failed marriages, and minor positions in British Excise (tax) offices. This mix of mundane activities masked the brilliant mind of an outstanding observer, thinker, and communicator.

In the summer of 1772, Paine wrote his first political article, The Case of the Officers of Excise , a twenty-one page brief for better pay and working conditions among Excise Officers. The work had little impact on Parliament, but did bring him to the attention of political thinkers in London, and ultimately to being introduced to Benjamin Franklin in September 1774. Franklin recommended that Paine immigrate to Pennsylvania and commence a publishing career.  Thomas Paine arrived in Philadelphia on November 30, 1774 and became editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine in January 1775.

Editing the magazine gave Paine two major opportunities.  He honed his writing skills for appealing to a mass audience and he befriended those opposing British colonial rule, including Benjamin Rush, an active member of the Sons of Liberty. After open rebellion erupted in April 1775, Rush was concerned that, “When the subject of American independence began to be agitated in conversation, I observed the public mind to be loaded with an immense mass of prejudice and error relative to it”.  He urged Paine to make the case for American independence understandable to common people.

Common Sense was just that. Paine laid out methodical and easily understood reasons for American independence in plain terms. Up until Common Sense those opposed to British rule did so only in lengthy philosophical letters circulated among intellectual elites.

Common Sense ushered in a new style of political writing, devoid of Latin phrases and complex concepts.  Historian Scott Liell asserts in Thomas Paine, Common Sense, and the Turning Point to Independence : “[B]y including all of the colonists in the discussion that would determine their future, Common Sense became not just a critical step in the journey toward American independence but also an important artifact in the foundation of American democracy.”

Paine’s simple prose promoted the premise that the rebellion was not about subjects wronged by their monarch, but a separate and independent people being oppressed by a foreign power:

“Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America.  This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe.  Hither they have fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.” Common Sense was an instant bestseller. It sold as many as 120,000 copies in the first three months, 500,000 in twelve months, going through twenty-five editions in the first year alone. This amazingly wide distribution was among a free population of only 2 million Americans.

Originally published anonymously as “Written by an Englishman”, word soon spread that Paine was the author.  His authorship known, Paine publically declared that all proceeds would go to the purchase of woolen mittens for Continental soldiers. General Washington ordered Paine’s pamphlet distributed among all his troops. Within the year, Paine became an aide-de-camp to Nathanael Greene, one of Washington’s top field commanders.

Common Sense was not only read by the masses, it was read to them. In countless taverns and local gatherings Paine’s case for American independence and for a unique American form of government was heard even by common folk who had never learned to read.

The masses heard and embraced the concept that, “A government of our own is our natural right”.  They also heard and understood the foundations of America: Government as a “necessary evil” formed and maintained by the will of the governed – “in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King”; and the need for an engaged electorate, “this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this, (not on the unmeaning name of king,) depends the  strength of government, and the   happiness of the governed.”

While the Declaration of Independence became the philosophical core of our Revolution, Common Sense initiated and broadened the public debate about independence, building the public commitment necessary to make our Revolution possible.

March 11, 2013 – Essay #16

Read Common Sense by Thomas Paine here: https://constitutingamerica.org/?p=3523

Scot Faulkner is Co-Founder of the George Washington Institute of Living Ethics, Shepherd University.  Follow him on Twitter @ScotFaulkner53

Maybe it’s time for a refresher course on “Common Sense”. That might be the spark that is needed to reclaim our Nation and remind those in office that government is through the consent of the governed. Unless the governed today don’t mind the near tyrannical government threatening our freedoms.

Remembering why America happened is about the underlying principles as well as the pivotal events, people, and documents. Our civic culture is at risk because so few people take the time to read and understand who we are.

This may be the heart of our national problem; “The more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and the easier repaired when disordered.” Our government has grown into such a complex monster that “we have to pass a law to find out what’s in it” and even then, no one can really understand what’s in it. Every reasonable citizen knows what the problems are, but it’s no longer easy to repair because there are so many advocates and beneficiaries for thousands of programs that it’s almost impossible to solve even one of the well-known problems without upsetting a large percentage of the citizens.

We need another “Common Sense” today. Even with it, we would need to reprint another set of Federalist Papers in language so simple that even those who buy into the Progressive agenda might understand how far that agenda is from the optimal structure that our founders left for us – and how that agenda is a path to destruction of our Republic. It reminds me of the book “Pilgrim’s Progress;” since our Republic’s journey began more than 200 years ago, we’ve found so many appealing paths to follow that we now have no idea how to get back to the path we were on. All these side paths seem so satisfying for the present that we don’t understand that we’ll never reach our ultimate, most satisfying, destination if we allow ourselves to keep getting diverted. We Constitutionalists have a lot of work to do!

We need another “Common Sense” today. Even with it, we would need to reprint another set of Federalist Papers in language so simple that even those who buy into the Progressive agenda might understand how far that agenda is from the optimal structure that our founders left for us – and how that agenda is a path to destruction of our Republic.

Many conservatives seem to think liberals are intellectually deficient compared to conservatives, but such egoism can only serve as a basis for grave strategic and tactical errors. Liberals don’t believe in absurdities because of any lack of intellectual capacity, but because their thinking has become emotionalized as a result of the increasing feminization of the American body politic.

Ron you are correct. America needs a 21st Century version of “Common Sense” to remind us that our founding principles are timeless and still very relevant today. This document also needs to make people aware of the fundamental threats to these principles (both foriegn and domestic).

I loved this guest essay! And, how very prescient his words are 200 plus years later…it seems that many of our culture’s failings have arisen out of this conflict between society and government with reference to their respective roles. Post modern America has bought into the same old lies as those in merry old England. Thomas Paine seemed to know and embrace “truth”…sadly, America has exchanged the “truth” for self-actualization and a culture of blame.

America needs another Thomas Paine – a person who can clearly communicate basic truths and make a compelling case for preserving our core principles of lberty.

As someone who has, over the past 5-6 years, begun to study the laws of nature that the Declaration of Independence centered around, around the concept that government is established for the purpose of protecting equally life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not to rule over people, which is exaclty what the revolution was a fight against. When Paine wrote that the law is king, it is the laws of nature that he was referencing.

What our nation has become is the exact tyranny that the our founders fought against. They call ruling over us service, when it is really just code wording in order to sell themselves to the ignorant public, that they might retain their power and grow it.

The path that Ron speaks of is the path back to God, morality and virtue, which are the pillars of liberty, as well as the path to education based on the self-evident truths contained in the Declaration and within the laws of nature.

This essay was an eloquent and relevant reminder of Thomas Paine’s important work. Paine is responsible for boosting colonial morale during the Revolutionary War, setting the stage for American religious liberty and political freedom, and influencing the Founding Fathers in the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. His message remains fundamental to the very principles and values that the United States was built upon, and it is extremely important for today’s generation to be acquainted with his work. Maybe if every American citizen read “Common Sense” and an adept background / analysis such as the one by Scot Faulkner, they would be inspired to change the course our country is on today.

Dear Jared:

You are right on target. American education steers away from teaching the fundamental principles, documents, and events that made us who we are.

As important is Pop culture. The entertainment industry would rather clutter our movie theaters with films about car chases and drug dealers instead of “Lincoln”. Up through th 1950s, movies and television shows about American history were a staple. Now they are rare. The British get it right – in the last decade they have had wonderful historical films, like “The King’s Speech” and “Young Victoria”. They strike the right balance between personalizing and enobling their history. In America we mostly have the liberal agitprop of Quentin Tarrantino and Oliver Stone.

Every one of the 90 in 90 documents have amazing stories that would make compelling films.

Perhaps the producers of “The Bible” series currently airing could be convinced to produce such a series, perhaps based on Hillsdale’s Constitutional Reader

The full text of the final edition of “Common Sense” included the addendum of the subsequent letter exchanges that spilled over into a dialogue with Quakers. In there, Thomas Paine charges the Quakers not to play politics for their requesting colonists to refrain from meddling with the affairs with Parliament and the King of England. He retorts back why they do not complain then about the King’s meddling with the affairs of the colonists.

What strikes me most; however, is the common dialogue of the day made so much use of Bible reference, Bible stories, and Bible examples as part of the debate, which in this case Thomas Paine uses the Bible as a text for making a case against why the King is not have a Divine Right to rule the American Colonies. And yet, in these post modern times we have atheists and skeptics who laud Thomas Paine as being deist at best, and atheist at worst. But regardless of the religious views of Paine, which in another letter to the constitutional convention of France encouraged French schools to teach the science and nature of God who created all things and is the progenitor of the sciences (meaning knowledge), you simply could not make any debate in those days without being versed in Scripture. Because so often was Bible references made in writings that if you did not know the Bible references or stories, you would be at a disadvantage of context.

Nowadays, we have people churning out with PhDs who have not even read the Bible, and yet claim to be an authority on these classical documents supposing to be our historians. Back then, you could not even graduate from college anywhere in the American colonies without having the ability to give a sermon, read the Latin, Greek and maybe even Hebrew in the original texts, and cite classical authors from their original writings. Today, scholars are rather classically illiterate as they cannot read original classics and have to resort to hear-say of those who have translated original classics or wrote their paraphrases and interpretations about them. Higher education, in all of its lofty accolades, has become vulgar and where does that leave the commoner today but left to fend for themselves with the classics? It gets to the point where you cannot trust that you are getting good information from the education system and have to slog through a lot of misinformation to get to the real deal.

Ralph, I’ve always enjoyed the wisdom in your comments over the three years of these studies. What you say here is absolutely correct. I’ve been amazed at how frequently the Bible is quoted directly or indirectly. I would not have known that had I not started these studies.

It’s encouraged me to work more to connect the Bible and our founding documents. For example, I see strong connections between the Biblical Exodus and the exodus of Christians from Europe to America; later, the progressivism of the Israelites, leading to their destruction, being similar to the progressivism of Europeans and Americans today, ultimately leading to our destruction if we don’t reverse our course.

One connection I’ve recently made is to the Declaration of Independence: Life: Created by God in His image Liberty: Free Will Pursuit of Happiness: Eternal happiness, not ephemeral hedonistic pleasure

Looking forward to more of your wisdom.

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After Reports About Trump Jurors, Judge Demands Restraint From the Press

Some news reports have included details about jurors that had been aired in open court. One was excused after she developed concerns about being identified.

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By Jesse McKinley ,  Kate Christobek and Matthew Haag

• April 18, 2024

The judge in former President Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial ordered reporters to not disclose employment information about potential jurors after he excused a woman who said she was worried about her identity becoming known.

The woman, who had been seated on the jury on Tuesday, told the judge that her friends and colleagues had warned her that she had been identified as a juror in the high-profile case. Although the judge has kept prospective jurors’ names private, some have disclosed their employers and other identifying information in court.

She also said that she did not believe she could be impartial.

The judge, Juan M. Merchan, promptly dismissed her.

Moments later, Justice Merchan ordered the press to not report the answer to two queries on a lengthy questionnaire for prospective jurors: “Who is your current employer?” and “Who was your prior employer?”

The judge conceded that the information about employers was necessary for lawyers to know. But he directed that those two answers be redacted from the transcript.

Justice Merchan also said that he was concerned about news outlets publishing physical descriptions of prospective or seated jurors, asking reporters to “simply apply common sense.”

“It serves no purpose,” Justice Merchan said about publishing physical descriptions, adding that he was directing the press to “refrain from writing about anything you observe with your eyes.”

William P. Marshall, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill, said that Justice Merchan’s order appeared “constitutionally suspect.” Professor Marshall said that a landmark Supreme Court ruling in a 1976 case, Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, struck down a trial judge’s ruling barring the news media from reporting information introduced in open court.

“The presumption against prior restraint is incredibly high in First Amendment law,” Professor Marshall said. “It’s even higher when it’s publishing something that is already a matter of public record.”

Lawyers for news outlets, including The New York Times, were expected to seek clarification on the order.

With the loss of the female juror on Thursday morning, six seated jurors remain.

In early March, Justice Merchan issued an order prohibiting publicly disclosing the names of jurors, while allowing legal teams and the defendant to know their identities.

But before the trial, Mr. Trump’s lawyers requested that potential jurors not be told that the jury would be anonymous unless he or she expressed concerns. Justice Merchan told the parties that he’d “make every effort to not unnecessarily alert the jurors” to this secrecy, merely telling jurors that they would be identified in court by a number.

On Thursday, Justice Merchan seemed frustrated by news reports that included identifying characteristics of potential jurors that had been aired in open court. He said: “There’s a reason why this is an anonymous jury, and we’ve taken the measures we have taken.”

“It kind of defeats the purpose of that when so much information is put out there,” he said.

He added that “the press can write about anything the attorney and the courts discuss and anything you observe us do.”

But he also said he had the legal authority to prevent reporters from relaying employer information on prospective jurors. He added that “if you can’t stick to that, we’re going to have to see if there is anything else we can do to keep the jurors safe.”

Jesse McKinley is a Times reporter covering upstate New York, courts and politics. More about Jesse McKinley

Kate Christobek is a reporter covering the civil and criminal cases against former president Donald J. Trump for The Times. More about Kate Christobek

Matthew Haag writes about the intersection of real estate and politics in the New York region. He has been a journalist for two decades. More about Matthew Haag

Our Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial

News and Analysis

Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan is off to an ominous start for the former president, and it might not get any easier  in the days ahead. Here’s why.

The National Enquirer was more than a friendly media outlet  for Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. It was a powerful, national political weapon that was thrust into the service of a single candidate , in violation of campaign finance law.

As prosecutors argued that Trump had repeatedly broken a gag order , they called one episode “very troubling”  — his sharing of a commentator’s quote disparaging prospective jurors as clandestine operators for the left.

More on Trump’s Legal Troubles

Key Inquiries: Trump faces several investigations  at both the state and the federal levels, into matters related to his business and political careers.

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What if Trump Is Convicted?: Could he go to prison ? And will any of the proceedings hinder Trump’s presidential campaign? Here is what we know , and what we don’t know .

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