Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Mr. Cummings
US History
Thomas Paine Biography
• 1737-1809
• Wrote Sense to explain
why colonists should go
to war;
• Common-sense style
appealed to colonists;
• Wrote Sense AFTER
fighting had broken out
A Failure Becomes a Success
• Born into poverty (1737)
• Wife and child died while giving birth (1760)
• Failed in early business dealings (1760), was
fired from other jobs (1765), was nearly
imprisoned for his debts (1774), left 2nd wife as a
result (1774)
• Became involved with England’s Society of
Twelve, which met to discuss town politics and
later met Benjamin Franklin (1774)
• Became editor of the Philadelphia Magazine,
where he gained his writing talent (1775)
And a Success Becomes a Failure
• Expelled by Congress due to making bad loans
for the government (1787)
• Wrote another pamphlet against British
monarchies – charged with seditious libel in
Great Britain in 1792 – arrested on another
charge in 1793 in France – after his release,
fled to the US in 1802 (Jefferson)
• Died in 1809 – only six people came to his
funeral (two were freed blacks)
• Body was buried in a field, later dug up, and is
currently missing
Common Sense
• Released January, 1776;
• Sense sold more than
500,000 copies;
• Paine suggested that
PEOPLE not monarchies
should make the laws;
• Inspired creation of
Declaration later that year.
Excerpt A
“ I have heard it asserted by some, that
as America hath flourished under her
former connections with Great Britain,
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.”
Excerpt B
“We have boasted the protection of Great
Britain without considering that her
motive was interest, not attachment;
and that she did not protect us from our
enemies on our account, but from her
enemies on her own account…”
Excerpt C
“But Britain is the parent country, say
some, Then the more shame upon her
conduct. Even brutes do not devour
their young, nor savages make war
upon their families.”
Excerpt D
“I challenge the warmest advocate for
reconciliation, to show a single
advantage that this continent can reap,
by being connected with Great Britain.
I repeat this challenge; not a single
advantage is derived.”
Excerpt E
“Small islands, not capable of protecting
themselves, are the proper objects for
kingdoms to take under their care; but
there is something absurd, in supposing
a continent to be perpetually governed
by an island. In no instance hath
nature made the satellite larger than its
primary planet.”
Excerpt F
“Nothing but independence can keep the
peace of the continent. A government of
our own is our natural right; and when a
man seriously reflects on the
precariousness of human affairs, he will
become convinced, that it is infinitely
wiser and safer, to form a constitution of
our own in a cool deliberate manner,
while we have it in our power.”