“Common Sense” by Thomas Paine Analysis by Mary Catherine Stanley
“Common Sense” is a dangerous name. The whole premise of the article is a passive aggressive yet inspiring work to usurp power from the king. Single sentences of the work could have Paine hanged for treason immediately. Even in a time where the greatest documents of American history were being produced, I believe Paine wrote the most inspiring, yet almost insulting, work of the Revolution in order to persuade Americans that this needed to be done.
“Common Sense” is a dangerous work due to not only the plea for independence, but the phrases themselves that Paine used. Once referring to “the King and his parasites”, he is greatly insulting the whole kingdom and the king. Paine uses such insulting language to lead us to the thought that we are the parasites. We depend on something to grow and flourish, however; our host is harmful. As Paine expresses in length, America is a peaceful country, but Britain draws us into many wars that would harm us overall. “AMERICANS” are not enemies of Spain and France, but enemies of us as “being the SUBJECTS OF GREAT BRITAIN.” This is important writing that Paine uses to combat the loyalist who said we rely on British for commerce. Paine responds through most of essay by saying when we are a part of Britain, we create too many enemies. Leaving Britain includes leaving these enemy relationships and opening commerce with Spain and France for example.
While the entire work is truly inspiring and uses great persuasive techniques, the most important section is the last two paragraphs. He begins with a rhetorical question, “Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence?” Especially catering to the Puritan church, your first thought is immediately no, or that is simply impossible. Following up, Paine compares this to our ability to reconcile with England…it’s impossible. He continues this through the final two paragraphs by using many persuasive techniques. He starts referring to “the Almighty” and using words such as “ye”. He uses this diction to give small allusions to bible, thus sparking a sense of emotion for the Puritans. Paine exemplifies pathos very well in the final summary. Another final remark from Paine states, “every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression.” Paine finishes off with American Exceptionalism. He is driving home that we are better than the Old World, and we are better than England.
“Common Sense”, written by Thomas Paine, is the most inspiring document of Revolution. While the Declaration of Independence lays out our nation, Paine beautifully inspires us to get there. If I was a soldier for America, I think I would be pretty “fired up” by now.
Thomas Paine 1776 by Handley Greeley
“Common Sense”, written and argued by Thomas Paine in 1776, is a book directed to the people of America inspiring them to revolt so they can gain independence from England and to form a new government consisting of themselves. Even though Paine was born in England, he came over to help spark revolutions, not only American but the French as well. With his persuasive writing, he influenced many in this document to separate from England politically and economically and unify as a country. It is no coincidence that this document, which inspires innovative ideas and freedom, was released the same year as the Declaration of Independence.
By naming this piece of writing “Common Sense” he is saying that it is obvious knowledge that the people of America should be revolting.
Paine is very passionate in this document, which makes him so persuasive. Paine writes that “the sun has never shined on a cause of greater worth.” and that it is now the “seed time of continental union, faith, and honor.” When Paine writes this, he means that there has never been a greater opportunity ever than now, to lead a revolution and break away from England. By saying the “seed-time”, he is saying that this is just the beginning and now is the time. Since America is so great, the best thing that the sun has shined on is now, the time to rebel. By Paine using these strong points, he is firing up his audience and getting into their emotions to make them feel enraged and inspired.
Paine not only uses convincing phrases, but he gets deep into the emotions of the audience to persuade them. Great Britain’s only “motive was INTEREST not ATTACHMENT; and that she did not protect us from OUR ENEMIES on OUR ACCOUNT; but HER ENEMIES on HER ACCOUNT.” By using capital letters to bold some of the words and speaking in demanding statements, Paine is getting deep into the audience’s emotions to make them feel the rage and anger that he has towards England. He is simply saying that they should not stand for this because all Great Britain wants is their money and land and they are the problematic ones.
In conclusion, Thomas Paine gets what he wants, a revolution. Ultimately, America wins, and they break free from England. Thanks to his persuasive writings, he highly influenced the American people which caused the American Revolution. By using his tactics of demanding statements and inspiring emotions, Paine was able to write a successful and legendary book.
Common Sense by Caitlin Mohrman
In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense, talking about why America should leave Great Britain. Around this time, there was tension between Great Britain and the Americas because of the taxation of Great Britain. Many revolts started in response to taxation like the Stamp Act. This pamphlet led to many Americans being angry with Great Britain and wanting their independence. Not all Colonies felt the same way, but due to persuasive writing, like Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, most Colonies felt like they were all united, even if they had no reason to fight. With Thomas Paine’s persuasive writing, he states his idea of gaining independence from Britain with strong portrayal.
Paine expresses multiple reasons for his idea of American independence from Great Britain. One reason Paine feels like America should get their independence is because, “America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power taken any notice of her.”, stating that we don’t need help. In this quote, he is saying that America would be better off without any European power, like Great Britain, controlling them. Paine also says, “She did not protect us from OUR ENEMIES on OUR ACCOUNT; but from HER ENEMIES on HER OWN ACCOUNT,” in terms of monetary diction. This quote shows that Great Britain did not care about America and was just using it for its own financial needs. Paine then insulted Great Britain by saying, “Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families.” In this quote, Paine insulted Great Britain because he compared them to uncivilized brutes.
Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense knowing that his life was on the line once he published it. That reason is why, what Paine wrote, was written with compelling statements to gather the support of the American people. Paine insulted the Crown multiple times, just to get the idea across that America was better off without Great Britain. Paine strongly believed in the unity of America, but he felt like if that were to happen, America would need to gain independence from Great Britain. That is the idea of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet and why he thought America should seek independence.
“Common Sense” by Mason Ashby
Common Sense a book by Thomas Paine was a pamphlet that was written to try and convince the people of the thirteen colonies to come together and declare independence. In the pamphlet it lists off many reasons why the colonists should come together and fight against Britain.
One of the main themes that Thomas Paine writes about how Great Britain has never done anything in favor of the colonies. Everything they ever did was to better them, not the colonies. In the tenth paragraph Thomas says, “her motive was interest not attachment, and she did not protect us from our enemies on our account, but her enemies on her own account.” When Thomas says “her motive was interest not attachment” he means that Britain only cared that America was land that produced supplies and food not actually being a part of Britain. This also feeds into the fact that Britain didn’t think of Americans as British or English even though they had English, British, or European background. In the writing Thomas says that British people call Americans countrymen or countrymen and they call each other English men even though most of the people in the colonies have European or English backgrounds.
Thomas also talks about how Britain is so controlling and so demanding of America that when Britain is at war it is affecting the American colonies even though they aren’t in Europe or the country at War with Britain is attacking America. Then at the end of the pamphlet he says, “the trade of America goes to ruin, Because of her connection with Britain.” Britain would only let America trade with them so when Britain was at war and they had no money they couldn’t trade with America, so America wasn’t making any money.
Finally, All of this coming together played a massive role in the American independence from Britain.
Common Sense Book Analysis by Wyatt Santy
During early 1776, patriotic American ideas were prevalent across the North American colonies. They could be seen through the revolts, they could be seen through the soon-to-be ignited American Revolutionary war efforts, and they could be seen through some of the most impactful literature of the time which has stayed relevant to America throughout its history. One of the most powerful and historic pieces of literature from 1776 was Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. It detailed why the American people should be free from rule of the King of England, and that “the sun never shined on a cause of greater worth” than the American revolution. Paine was an avid revolutionist, and one of the driving forces in the beginnings of the American Revolution.
Paine’s Common Sense presents facts that were irrefutable to anyone trying to disclaim them, and this is what made it so appealing to the American people. One of these facts which Paine presents is that “Men who look upon themselves [as] born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance.” In America, this was not a problem that the colonists faced, as there were no high classes or royalty. In fact, they hated royalty because of their “inherent” superiority, which was not what America stood for, as the colonists were made up of hard workers who labored for long hours for what they had. This was a driving factor during the American Revolution because of the American colonists’ anger towards the King, who taxed them harshly, even though he lived thousands of miles away and had never worked in his life. Thomas Paine simply expressed those feelings into hard facts, which the American people clung to as a vessel for their anger towards the King.
Thomas Paine was a visionary who saw what America could be and what they could do if they were a free people. Paine was simply able to take the feelings of those people and put them into a pamphlet, which he presented with facts and strong ideas. Thus, the purpose of Paine’s words is to provide the King with “common sense”, that the American people should be free from his rule.
Common Sense by Ellie Jarrell
Common Sense by Thomas Paine embodies the urgency and need for the American people to come to their senses about the European government having control of them.
Throughout this pamphlet, Paine constantly speaks directly to the people of American and speaks about asylum, a safe place. Paine also refers to American Exceptionalism when he speaks about God and the Christian faith, continuing to persuade the readers to use their common sense.
Paine drives the idea that “’tis not the affair of a City, a County, a Province, a Kingdom, or a Kingdom; but of a Continent,” he expresses unity and how European control is not just regional it affects everyone and will continue to affect everyone unless they come together in
unity and stop it. Paine also continues to portray the idea that “because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat,” expressing that just because there has been European rule in the past does not mean it cannot thrive without it. He uses that metaphor to really drive that image and idea into the reader’s brain. There is a sense of urgency throughout Common Sense and the theme of a chance to do something new. This new chance is them having their own country, with their own laws, and their own power. As he speaks those words, he hopes to persuade the reader because using urgency makes them feel like they need to make their decision by using their common sense.
Paine believes that if no European power had been involved or taken over America could flourish even more than originally. Throughout Paine’s writing, he wants to draw attention to certain words such as “INTEREST” and “ACCOUNT,” proving that Europeans only care about wealth and power. Paine makes these words completely capitalized because this is important for the American reader to see and fully comprehend, it helps support his main idea of common sense and anyone would be foolish to not realize that the Europeans do not care about the Americans. Paine also completely capitalizes other words such as “PARENT OR MOTHER COUNTRY” to, again, draw attention from the reader and continue to support the ideas of the king being the father and America being the mother. Because of that, it makes the American people the children and they are treated like children and cannot make their own decisions although they are their own country. Paine then goes forth to make the point that if a country should be governed by the descendants than England should be governed by the French again giving another reason as to why America should be independent and have freedom. He expresses that “freedom hath been hunted” everywhere and that America is the only asylum and safe place and if they are governed by England, they will not have that asylum they long to know.
In the final paragraphs of Paine’s pamphlet, he begins to mention the Christian faith. He brings in American Exceptionalism as a final closing saying that God will watch over them if because they are the best country and people. Overall, Paine uses many intentional words and phrases to grasp the reader’s attention, persuade them to agree with him, and use their common sense instead of them letting England’s power get the best of them.
