Paine, Thomas. Common Sense. Bradford Enlarged Edition. 1776. Reprinted in 46 Pages. Scott Liell. New York: MJF Books, 2003.
Thomas Pain came to America form his home in England at the encouragement of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin encouraged Paine to write about conflict the American colonies and Britain. The product was Common Sense.
Common Sense was an essay making the case for American independence. In a sense, it is two essays, one directly supporting the call for independence and one providing background on the impossibility of liberty under the British system.
The first parts of the essay deals with the concept of government in general. In particular, Paine argues against monarchy as a form of government. To him, monarchy is unnatural and hereditary monarchy insanity. Even a constitutional monarchy that gave real powers to a king, such as England had at the time, could not guarantee the peoples right, particularly in a colony where it was in the monarch’s and mother country’s interest for the colony to be dependent. Paine advocated throwing off the British monarchy and adopting a constitutional republic.
The latter half dealt with directly with American independence. Building on his earlier statements, he argued that America could not meet its potential if it did not act on its own interest. Paine saw a confluence of things, particularly the population and resources of the continent that made for the best possible time to pursue independence.
In this edition, Paine offered an answer to some of the detractors of his first edition, especially the pacifist among the Quakers. He argued that peace under Britain was impossible, but that independence would bring a lasting peace. In addition, there was already an aggressor on the continent in the form of British troops. To Paine, taking up arms against Britain was not to start a war, but a defense against foreign attacks.
Paine’s arguments seemed to tip the scale. Common Sense was widely read among the founding fathers. Within months of its publication, the Declaration of Independence was published.
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I'm a fifth-grade teacher, and an intrical part of teaching civics is providing students with our primary sources: the founding documents. This is critical in understanding what “We the People” really means. Today, as they did over 230 years ago, those documents instill in students the belief that all our voices are important. Everyone of our citizens are given the right to pursue liberty. Futures do not have to be inevitable and "Little voices" can make dramatic impacts on events. That is Thomas Paine's greatest contribution to our country. His pamphlet, Common Sense, spoke to ALL the voices in the 13 colonies during a time of great fear and indecision. He gave a vast number of citizens a vision of what each could do, 176 days before the Declaration of Independence. A belief that power should radiate from the citizens. That message is still paramount to all our students today. For that pamphlet alone, Paine needs to be recognized everywhere as a intrical part of the American miracle.
ReplyDeleteMark Wilensky,
author of "The Elementary Common Sense of Thomas Paine: An Interactive Adaptation for All Ages"