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Thomas Paine's COMMON SENSE   Term Paper ID:27135 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses reasons for popularity of book & summarizes major arguments, including Paine's distinction between society & government & reasons for opposition to the British.... More...

5 Pages / 1125 Words 2 sources, 7 Citations, TURABIAN Format $20.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Discusses reasons for popularity of book & summarizes major arguments, including Paine's distinction between society & government & reasons for opposition to the British. Paper Introduction: Thomas Paine's political declaration in his tract Common Sense struck a chord with the Americans of his time. The book was so popular that it went through fifty-six editions in the first year. The book was published anonymously in 1776, and the sentiments expressed in this work by Paine helped direct the energies of the rebels and point the way to American independence from England. What Paine did in this small book was to enunciate important principles of individual human rights and the specific right of the people to challenge unjust laws and an unjust government. If this message found a willing audience, it was because the people of the Americas were ready to hear this message rather than because the message itself broke through some reserve or presented something totally new. What Paine did was to gather together many of the intellectual currents of his time, Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. 8). John and Sam Adams and Benjamin Franklin saw the battle asa war for independence. He shows that thewar is not jeopardizing a mutual relationship but a relationship thatbenefited the English and not the Americans. The book was so popular that itwent through fifty-six editions in the first year. . Paine dismisses these arguments by pointingout that Britain has only done what fulfilled her interests, and thatAmerica should now do only what will do the same on the other side. . WhatPaine did was to gather together many of the intellectual currents of histime, specifically those describing the importance of and effects ofnatural law and its consequences for government and the relationship of thepeople to their government. would soon form our newly arrived emigrants into society,the reciprocal blessings of which, would supersede, and render theobligations of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectlyjust to each other. Paine here notes the amount of argument that hastaken place concerning this matter and the confusion that this has caused.He tries to clarify this by simplifying the matter and by noting that allthinking has been changed with the onset of the war. New York: Harvest Books, 1954.----------------------- 7 Society he sees aspositive and government as negative. Kramnick notes: "The publication of Paine's Common Sensecould not have been better timed" (p. A look at the text of Common Sense itself shows that in addition tothe economic argument and the appeal to a sense of the meaning ofgovernment and its purposes, Paine made use of a strong sense of rhetoricand persuasive argument in formulating his analysis. Paine also examinesthe issue of the monarchy and its meaning and finds that essentially amonarchy is not a necessary form of government and thus not one ordained byGod as some believe. 335). He asks that the reader envision "a small number ofpersons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with therest, they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or of theworld. In striking terms he illustrates theidea that government derives from the people in response to perceivedneeds, leading to the tenet that government must respond to the needs ofthe people or be abolished. This along with theargument itself helped convince the people of its value and led to itspopularity. Kramnick says that this was because the delegates were confused andambivalent. Of course, they will not remainperfectly just to one another, leading to the necessity of the formation ofa government "to supply the defect of moral virtue" (p. He does thiswith a balanced comparison stating the nature of one against the nature ofthe other, contrasting the two and their effects. He rather offers a common senseapproach that avoids the argument in which everyone else is indulging andthat goes right to the heart of the matter in a clear and direct way. 66). 66). He does not seek an answer in sentimentalattachments or historical accidents. In this section, Paine makes his strongest appeal by setting forththe arguments in a clear fashion, by noting the ideas of both sides, and bymaking it clear how the arguments should be decided. He traces the elements of thisconstitution to earlier periods in history and to attempts to answerproblems of those times in ways that have been carried into new eras wherethey are not as valuable but persist just the same. He shows how people come together in asociety, how they can begin to conflict with one another, how as theirsociety grows the problems encountered also increase, and how a governmentis formed to protect society from itself and the forces it unleashes. New York: Penguin Classics, 1986.Parrington, Vernon L., The Colonial Mind 162 -18 . He describes government as evidence of lostinnocence--in the state of nature, government is not needed, but as manperceives the dangers surrounding him in society, government becomes themeans to afford protection and to stave off the perceived threats in theworld. Parrington (1954) takes note of the power of Common Senseand sees its great popularity as flowing "from its direct and skillfulappeal to material interests" (p. It wasestimated that only about one-third of those who were assembled inPhiladelphia at the Congress in 1775 and 1776 were in favor ofindependence. They had strong ties to England, and yet they suddenly foundthemselves at war with that country. In this way, he energizes these readers, who begin to see the issues interms of their own interests rather than as some abstract issue removedfrom their immediate realm. 66). The colonists were fighting theBritish, but they were not certain why they were fighting. ." (p. 7). This view held that government was a utility, a means to an end,and what the American people had to decide was whether there was a moreuseful arrangement of which they could avail themselves. What Paine did in this small book was toenunciate important principles of individual human rights and the specificright of the people to challenge unjust laws and an unjust government. Paine makes it clear at the outset that he intends to clear upthe muddle that various writers have made of the issue of government, andin the first paragraph he outlines the issue in terms of how he viewssociety, government, and the relationship between the two. The book was publishedanonymously in 1776, and the sentiments expressed in this work by Painehelped direct the energies of the rebels and point the way to Americanindependence from England. Government then develops as a matter of necessity inorder to achieve some security--notably economic security--for all: "Thusnecessity. Vernon L. Paine was joining in a debate thathad been ongoing for some time and that had already erupted into thebeginnings of war. Parrington, as noted, sees the influence of Common Sense as being asgreat as it was because it included an understanding of the economic aspectof the situation: "For the first time in a tedious, inconsequential debate,it was openly asserted that governmental policies rest on economicfoundations; that the question of American independence was only a questionof expediency, and must be determined in the light of economic advantage"(p. He does not allow preconceptions about the countriesinvolved to decide the issue. Paine shows inhis argument that every effort to achieve a peaceful settlement was to noavail and that war with Britain was the only thing left. One of the argumentsagainst the war is examined by paine, specifically that America hasprospered through her connection with Great Britain and that thisconnection should continue. . He shows that it is in thebest interests of America to seek and achieve independence and not to allowideas about the past to decide what those interests really are. This description is not unlike that of Rousseau, Mill, and others,but Paine makes the issue live with concrete examples and language thatappeal directly to the understanding of the confused Americans of his time. Thomas Paine's political declaration in his tract Common Sense strucka chord with the Americans of his time. Rather than merely discussing the concepts behind natural law and thederivation of the idea of government, Paine illustrates the issue with aconcrete example. In this state of natural liberty, society will be their firstthought" (p. Paine was also an Englishman, but hehad no doubts about what was right in this instance: "Boldly he announcedthat America's purpose in these battles was to achieve completeindependence, to break all ties with corrupt and tyrannical Britain" (p.8). He also presented these ideas in a way thatappealed to the self-interest of the people of the Americas and that thushelped them decide what action they should take to implement these ideas inorder better to provide for their economic future. Paine also addresses the issue of greatest import to his readers, theexisting state of affairs in the American society that now finds itself atwar with its homeland. In this section, heclears up what the long argument that has gone before has only made morecomplex and involved. Isaac Kramnick (in an introduction to Common Sense,1986) writes: "Americans fought Englishmen on the battlefields of the newworld in January 1776, even as, among themselves, they debated the natureand purpose of those battles" (p. The popularity of his book probably derives greatlyfrom this analysis of the dissension within America over how to respond toEngland and what to work toward for the post-war period. The very title of Paine's work shows the strength of its appeal tothe American people--it offers "common sense," cutting through theconfusion surrounding the issues and showing the true nature of the issuesfacing the people. 335). Others wanted to stay within the British empire,and they saw the war as a chance to force Parliament to admit the justiceof colonial claims and to redress a long list of grievances. There weredifferent factions among the revolutionaries, and they defined the war indifferent terms. Ifthis message found a willing audience, it was because the people of theAmericas were ready to hear this message rather than because the messageitself broke through some reserve or presented something totally new. Paine carries his argument from the imagined to the real as he turnsto the issue of the British constitution, a document he sees as so complexthat problems are bound to result. BibliographyPaine, Thomas, Common Sense. 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