From "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine
1. In what ways does Paine present the conflict as not a war over economic policy, but a war of ideas?
At the beginning of the revolutionary period, very few colonists were thinking about independence but after Thomas Paine published Common Sense many people began to imagine what it would be like to be free. Many revolutionaries began implanting the idea that the monarchy is granted far too much power and executing unfair policies for the colonists. After Thomas Paine wrote “Common sense” Americans realized they wanted something different. Paine states “the practice of monarchy originates from sin, and is an institution that the Bible and God condemn” to basically open people's eyes to see that the king and government of the motherland is corrupted. Thomas Paine suggests that America has evolved and no longer needs Britain's help. Paine claims that Britain has only watched over America in order to secure its own economic well-being however the British are attacking them daily. If they stay with Britain, problems will keep coming up eventually. In the pamphlet he adds ideas of what it would be like to be independent in order to attract more people to that ideology. Paine not only presents the advantages of
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In her letter, Abigail Adams tells her husband “‘if particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation” she basically threatens him to speak up for woman’s rights at the continental congress. John Adams, as I learned from today’s lecture, was against the use violence for political improvement. Therefore, Abigail knew her husband would consider her proposal to improve the position of women in