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Common Sense By Thomas Paine Analysis

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Everyone is entitled to their own opinions when it comes to touchy subjects, however, only a few are capable of generating distinct and unique ideas that differ from others. Thomas Paine was one of the few, going against the norm that a government is a necessity to a country, Paine believes that a “government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil” (4). In Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, Paine argues about his perspective on society and government, saying that it is misguiding that “writers have so confounded society with government” (3). In order to express his belief that mankind is naturally equal and that the government should reflect this state of equality, Paine, through Common Sense, made many arguments that I believe were …show more content…

To demonstrate his theory on society and government, Paine visualizes “a small number of persons settled in some… part of earth, unconnected with the rest; they will then represent the first people of any country. In this state of natural liberty, society would be their first thought” and “the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same” (5). I find this way of reasoning to be totally preposterous -- there is no way he can be confident that “society” would be the first thought in every single person’s head and that everyone would seek help from one another. To show why I think this, let’s look at “On the Present Ability of America, with some Miscellaneous Reflection,” where Paine used a similar method of reasoning to come up with another assumption that the U.S. has the ability to compete against Great Britain -- saying that “’Tis 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” (107). Paine was a political activist and philosopher, not a military leader; I highly doubt he had a full grasp of neither the U.S. nor the Britain’s naval capability to say that the U.S. can rival against the world. And like his story with the people in an island, I feel like Paine is being illogical to base his opinions on

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