Thomas Paine's Common Sense Term Paper

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Thomas Paine -- Common Sense

Thomas Paine wrote "Common Sense" as an argument for American independence from Great Britain.

Paine begins his essay with general reflections concerning government. He begins the second paragraphs with "Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one" (Paine pp). With this statement Paine is appealing to the masses by laying out his general view of government, assuring them that yes, it would be ideal to live without government, yet in reality impossible, however, it is not necessary to tolerate one in which treats its citizens unfairly. Paine continues, "for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer" (Paine pp). In this first section, Paine is basically building his case for advocating rebellion later on in the essay.

In the second section, Paine elaborates on the distinctions between kings and subjects, saying that distinctions of nature are understandable, "but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind" (Paine pp). Paine goes on to describe how according to the scripture chronology, "In the early ages of the world, there were no kings, the consequence of which was there were no wars, it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion" (Paine pp). He then paints a scenario in which people who have been placed on an island without contact to the rest of society, would in time create bonds with each other and eventually develop a system of authority and law based on the groups needs.

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He believe that people are more content and happier as a whole if they themselves are responsible for implementing the laws that govern them. He uses examples such as, "Holland without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any of the monarchical governments in Europe" (Paine pp). Here he is arguing that such a system would also be better for the colonists as well, thus, prepping the reader for independence.….....

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