common sense thomas paine
DESCRIPTION
COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine. January 10, 1776 Rallying, Influencing, Motivating. Thomas Paine. Born in Great Britain, January 29, 1737 Self-taught Immigrated to America 1774 Involved in American political life. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
COMMON SENSEThomas Paine
January 10, 1776
Rallying, Influencing, Motivating.
![Page 2: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Thomas Paine• Born in Great Britain,
January 29, 1737
• Self-taught
• Immigrated to America 1774
• Involved in American political life
![Page 3: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
“I offer nothing more than simple
facts, plain arguments, and
common sense,”
Argued strongly for COMPLETE American Independence, not just
freedom from British taxation
![Page 4: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
What was “Common Sense?”
• Revolutionary war pamphlet
• English, 48 pages
• First published anonymously January 10, 1776
• Sold 500,000 copies in first year & 25 editions
• Precursor to the Declaration of Independence, which was written six months later
![Page 5: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
How did Common Sense succeed in inspiring so much
revolutionary feeling?
![Page 6: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
• Used forceful everyday language, influencing workers to attack the idea that the British King should rule the American Colonies
• American independence would be a victory for humans everywhere
• Words convinced many Americans that the cause of independence was a just one
• Played a central role in rallying public opinion; convinced many who were unsure of the purpose of the war
![Page 7: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
• ‘The sun never shined on a greater cause of worth, tis not the concern of a day, a
year or an age. Prosperity will be affected, even to the end of time’
– Paine.
![Page 8: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
• “There is something very absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually
governed by an island,”
• “We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never
to have meat.”
-Paine
![Page 9: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Chapter I. ‘Of the Origin and Design of Government in general, with concise Remarks on the English Constitution.’
• Introduces idea that there is a difference between Government and Society
• “Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state
is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one…”
-Paine
![Page 10: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Chapter 2 - ‘Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession’
• Paine argues that all men are born equal and there should be no distinction between kings and subjects.
• ‘In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away places; […]A pretty
business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and
worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.
-Paine
![Page 11: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Chapter 3 - ‘Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs.’
• Examines hostilities between American Colonies and Britain
• Argues for independence
• Continental Charter "should come from some intermediate body between the Congress and the people… [we must
ensure] freedom and property to all men, and… the free exercise of religion.”
![Page 12: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Chapter 4 – ‘On the Present Ability of America, with some
Miscellaneous Reflections.’,
• Paine's optimistic view of America's military potential.
• “It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet our present
numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world”
-Paine
![Page 13: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Paine’s PAIN. • It was absurd for an island to rule a continent.
• America was not a British nation
• Britain the "mother country" should take better care of it’s ‘child’, the colonies.
• Being a part of Britain would drag America into unnecessary European wars,
• The distance
• Puritans believed that God wanted to give them a safe haven from the persecution of British rule.
• Britain ruled the colonies for its own benefit, and would not let the colonies have a say
![Page 14: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
• Crucial in turning American opinion against Britain and was one of the key factors in the colonies' decision to engage in a battle for complete independence
• Continental congress in 1774 not all convinced that complete independence was desirable.
• "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would
have been raised in vain.” – John Adams
Common Sense Succeeds?
![Page 15: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Success again• December, 1776, New Jersey
• ‘[to] reap the blessings of freedom, [we] must undergo the fatigue to support it’
• “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in
this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the
conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”-Paine
![Page 16: COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062314/56813907550346895da0bcd9/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Conclusion• Thomas Paine created written revolution
• Common Sense forever renowned as instruction, motivational, and revolutionary
• He INDEED created feeling of revolution.
• ‘To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather been loaded with taxes than not.’
-Paine