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Thomas Paine's Role in US Declaration of Independence
Role of Thomas Paine in the push toward Independence and the founding of the United States
Thomas Paine's Role in US Declaration of Independence
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The colonists had one interest. They wanted to be treated fairly. However, they believed the new laws were unfair, so they took action. The colonists resisted and wanted to be free because they thought the British weren’t treating them the way they should be treated.
In both the speech to the Virginia Convention and The Crisis, Number 1, Henry and Paine write to persuade the colonists to fight. But, they both have different methods in doing this. Paine uses figurative language, tone, and rhetorical devices to convince the colonists to rise up against the British and fight for their independence. Paine’s writing uses ethical and emotional appeals, or ethos and pathos, in order to achieve his goal. Henry, on the other hands, uses logical appeal, or logos, to convince the colonists to secede from England and to fight the British.
With passion, Paine writes to convince the colonists in a comprehensible manner. Intelligently, he uses the media in his advantage, to put his assessments out to
Freedom Even though the colonists did not have a clear understanding of freedom because they were under the rule of a tyrant, the Speech in the Virginia Convention and Crisis #1, written by Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine, both motivated the colonists and congress to aspire and achieve freedom. Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry both used very similar quotes to motivate the colonists into realizing that fighting the British king would grant them freedom at last. No matter how many times the American colonists attempted to resolve things through petitions, remonstrations, and arguments the British were right there, smiling insidiously, but only proved to snare their feet. The colonists were tired of these lies and insults, so this is where Paine and Henry step in.
In Thomas Paine’s piece, “The American Crisis”, he uses stylistic and persuasive elements to inspire the soldiers of the American revolution. Tone has a very key role in Paine’s attempt to persuade the men. Words such as passionate, direct, and self-assured can be used to describe the piece. Right from the start Paine is direct with what the tone of the piece will be; “these are the times that try men’s souls.” (98).
Utilizing this, Henry’s usage of pathos is his most effective persuasive technique. Patrick Henry takes advantage of pathos with his speech to the colonists to make them feel
Thomas Paine helped bring the attention to what is right, and support, join the war. Thomas Paine used pathos to alarm the colonist. He used pathos since it can put fear into the people and once they are alarmed they would want to protect themselves and their colonies. “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
Thomas Paine and the Syrian Civil War During the American revolution, Thomas Paine stated in one of his papers: “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like all men, undergo the fatigues to support it.”(Paine,1777). Thomas Paine is an English Enlightenment thinker who supported the American Revolution as well as the French Revolution. His idea of revolution was that people can revolt and form their own government when they aren’t feeling like they aren’t being treated properly by the government. These ideas connect to the current Syrian Civil War where people aren’t getting the safety and rights they need to survive.
Thomas Paine was one of the best known political philosopher and pamphleteer back during the 18th century. “Common Sense” was the first published pamphlet that proclaimed the independence of America and one of his most famous piece of work. How did Thomas Paine influence the declaration of independence by writing “Common Sense”? “Common Sense” convinced a great amount of moderates to become patriots, additionally, some loyalist were persuaded by his writing. Also, he was able to express his feelings and wrote in a way that people commonly spoke.
His clever word play, in statements such as, “she did not protect us from our enemies on our account, but from her enemies on her own account” (Paine, par. 3), brought anger into the people. He used many pathological appeals to strike anger into the people of America, and in doing so, persuaded them that they must fight against the enemy, Great Britain. He also wanted people to react upon the fact that Britain was not a parent in their treatment of America because “even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families” (Paine, par. 5). By mentioning things that appeal to every person, he was able to cause an eruption of exasperation throughout the people. His psychological approach to the situation, instead of sheer patriotism, was a key factor in the strength of his speech versus that of Patrick
The relationship between Britain and its American colonies was civil at first but began to strain in the mid-1700’s. In the beginning, Britain ruled colonies with little involvement because they were busy dealing with the French and Indian War among other things. As a result of this, the colonies were typically left in charge of themselves with little interference from British authorities. After years of being left alone, the colonists had developed a feeling of freedom and independence. When the war ended there was a significant change in the relations between England and the colonies.
The British government was not looking for the best of the people. They were only thinking about what they wanted; the government was not interested in what the people wanted so they decided to make decisions on their own, which resulted in changes that form the United States today. Because of this, they were justified in rebelling and declaring independence. One reason why the colonists decided to rebel and declare independence was because of taxation.
Thomas Paine was persuasive to the colonists using pathos by saying he believed that they were by no means ready to be prepared towards the revolt. This was used as a outright demand for independence from Great Britain. “We were unwilling to raise an army, and trusted our cause to the temporary defence of a well-meaning militia.”
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Thomas Paine said during the American Revolution. The American revolution was thought to be a hopeless battle. America was out numbered, out gunned and out resourced. Yet America was able to beat the British because of many heroes and leaders.
It was extremely important for Paine to persuade the colonist to continue the war for American independence. He used pathos by using a parent’s love for their children against them to convince the army to continue on with the war. By way of example, when Paine is talking about a tori and patriotic father “finished with this unfatherly expression ‘Well! Give me peace in my day…’ and a generous parent should have said ‘If there must be trouble let it be in my day; that my child may have peace’ and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient enough to awaken every man to duty” (Paine 109).
