HIS WORKS:
COMMON SENSE:
On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine comprised a pamphlet called Common Sense. In this pamphlet he wrote his concepts and conclusions about American Independence. "In his words, all the arguments for separation of England are based on nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense." Paine wrote this pamphlet because he felt that England must establish its own independence. The following excerpt is from the pamphlet Common Sense.
As much has been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, like an agreeable dream, has passed away and left us as we were, it is but right that we should examine the contrary side of the argument and inquire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with an dependent on Great Britain. To examine that connection and dependence on the principles of nature and common sense; to see what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependent (Adkins 19-20).
It should also be noted that the name of this impacting pamphlet Common Sense was exactly the kind of thinking that he wanted the people to have.
To be always running three to four thousand miles with a tale or a petition waiting four or five months for an answer, which when obtained, requires five to six more to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and childishness (Adkins 26).
In reading Paine's pamphlet, I valued the fact that he wrote not only scholarly but also in a way for the commoner to understand. He states,
We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true; for I answer roundly that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had anything to do with her (Adkins).In no instance has nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet; and as England and America, with respect to each other, reverse the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to different systems- England to Europe, America to itself (Adkins 26).
It can be assumed that Paine was a humanitarian. He himself was poverty stricken during his life, and he cared for his country both the wealthy and the poor. He ends his pamphlet stating,
Let the names of the Whig and Tory be extinct, and Let none other be heard among us than those of a good citizen, an open and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the rights of mankind and of the free and independent states of America (Adkins 52).
The Crisis Papers: These papers were written between 1776 and 1783.
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. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearess only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom shold not be highly rated.
Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but to bind us in all cases whatsoever; and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious, for so unlimited a power can belong only to God (Adkins 55).
Paine was indeed a remarkable writer. He was a natural, but he gave recognition to America for his driving cause and passion to write.
It was the cause of America that made me an author. The force with which it struck my mind and the dangerous condition the country appeared to me, by courting an impossible and an unnatural reconciliation with those who were determined to reduce her-a declaration of independence-made it possible for me, feeling as I did, to be silent; and if, in the course of more than seven years, I have rendered her any service, I likewise added something to the reputation of literature by freely and disinterestedly employing it in the great cause of mankind and showing that there may be genius without prostitution (Adkins 69).
For more information about Thomas Paine, use the following websites:
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1776-1800/paine/CM/sense01.htm
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/tpaine/paine.htm
Patti Park