COMMON SENSE
Thomas Paine
January 10, 1776
Rallying, Influencing,
Motivating.
Thomas Paine
• Born in Great Britain,
January 29, 1737
• Self-taught
• Immigrated to
America 1774
• Involved in American
political life
“I offer nothing
more than simple
facts, plain
arguments, and
common sense,”
Argued strongly for
COMPLETE American
Independence, not just
freedom from British taxation
What was “Common Sense?”
• Revolutionary war pamphlet
• English, 48 pages
• First published anonymously January 10, 1776
• Sold 500,000 copies in first year & 25 editions
• Precursor to the Declaration of Independence,
which was written six months later
How did Common Sense
succeed in inspiring so much
revolutionary feeling?
• Used forceful everyday language, influencing
workers to attack the idea that the British King
should rule the American Colonies
• American independence would be a victory for
humans everywhere
• Words convinced many Americans that the
cause of independence was a just one
• Played a central role in rallying public opinion;
convinced many who were unsure of the
purpose of the war
• ‘The sun never shined on a greater cause
of worth, tis not the concern of a day, a
year or an age. Prosperity will be affected,
even to the end of time’
– Paine.
• “There is something very absurd in
supposing a continent to be perpetually
governed by an island,”
• “We may as well assert that because a
child has thrived upon milk, that it is never
to have meat.”
-Paine
Chapter I. ‘Of the Origin and Design of
Government in general, with concise
Remarks on the English Constitution.’
• Introduces idea that there is a
difference between Government and
Society
• “Society in every state is a blessing,
but government even in its best state
is but a necessary evil; in its worst
state an intolerable one…”
-Paine
Chapter 2 - ‘Of Monarchy and
Hereditary Succession’
• Paine argues that all men are born equal and
there should be no distinction between kings and
subjects.
• ‘In England a king hath little more to do than to
make war and give away places; […]A pretty
business indeed for a man to be allowed eight
hundred thousand sterling a year for, and
worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one
honest man to society and in the sight of God,
than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.
-Paine
Chapter 3 - ‘Thoughts on the
present State of American Affairs.’
• Examines hostilities between American
Colonies and Britain
• Argues for independence
• Continental Charter "should come from
some intermediate body between the
Congress and the people… [we must
ensure] freedom and property to all men,
and… the free exercise of religion.”
Chapter 4 – ‘On the Present Ability
of America, with some
Miscellaneous Reflections.’,
• Paine's optimistic view of America's
military potential.
• “It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our
great strength lies; yet our present
numbers are sufficient to repel the force of
all the world”
-Paine
Paine’s PAIN.
• It was absurd for an island to rule a continent.
• America was not a British nation
• Britain the "mother country" should take better care of it’s
‘child’, the colonies.
• Being a part of Britain would drag America into unnecessary
European wars,
• The distance
• Puritans believed that God wanted to give them a safe
haven from the persecution of British rule.
• Britain ruled the colonies for its own benefit, and would not
let the colonies have a say
Common Sense Succeeds?
• Crucial in turning American opinion against
Britain and was one of the key factors in the
colonies' decision to engage in a battle for
complete independence
• Continental congress in 1774 not all convinced
that complete independence was desirable.
• "Without the pen of the author of Common
Sense, the sword of Washington would
have been raised in vain.”
– John Adams
Success again
• December, 1776, New Jersey
• ‘[to] reap the blessings of freedom, [we] must
undergo the fatigue to support it’
• “These are the times that try men’s souls. The
summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in
this crisis, shrink from the service of their
country; but he that stands it now, deserves the
love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny,
like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have
this consolation with us, that the harder the
conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
-Paine
Conclusion
• Thomas Paine created written revolution
• Common Sense forever renowned as
instruction, motivational, and revolutionary
• He INDEED created feeling of revolution.
• ‘To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is
to make poverty their choice, and to say they
had rather been loaded with taxes than not.’
-Paine