How Does Thomas Paine Create A Common Sense

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THOMAS PAINE’S COMMON SENSE Thomas Paine, born on February 9,1737, Thetford, United Kingdom, was an English American writer and pamphleteer whose ‘Common Sense’ and other writings helped shape many ideas influencing the American Revolution and helped pave the way for the Declaration of Independence. He worked as an officer of the excise, hunting smugglers, and collecting liquor and tobacco taxes but he did not excel at this job. In 1772, he published "The Case of the Officers of Excise" which was a 21-page article in defense of higher pay for excise officers; which was his first political work. Later in 1774, he immigrated to Philadelphia where he quickly became associates with a group of advocates including John Adams and Dr. Benjamin Rush, …show more content…

The audience were both loyalists who were unsure in joining the American rebels who were leaning towards the side of the loyalists that it was written in such a way that common people could interpret concepts and to promote the rebellion. The technique was to use what he thought was "common sense" to persuade people into believing what he expected to be an obvious thing. His argument is for American independence which begins with theoretical reflections about government and religion which furthermore progresses into the specifics of the colonial situation. He distinguishes between society and government; society to him is constructive whereas government is represented as an institution. He saw that the global significance of the American struggle for independence was human rights and freedom. His ideas helped illustrate how life could be in an independent land, and why a republican government suited the new colonies much better than a hereditary monarchy. The modern state in which government "promotes our happiness…"; this argument could also be made that, given the affection he expresses for society, he might be very fond of modern governments because lauds society because of what it accomplishes, and if a government could accomplish the same thing, his view of