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Thomas Paine's Response To American Independence

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Right after the revolutionary war broke out, Thomas Paine published Common Sense to support independence. On the opposition, the loyalist, James Chalmers, published Plain Truth to argue the benefit of remaining as British colonies. Thomas Paine first used the example of Mr. Pelham saying “They may last my time” to illustrate the point that people should pursuit profit in a longer term. In his opinion, the relationship with England, though made the colonies thrive, will not work in the future. It is just like as the baby growing up, it needs to eat meat, instead of still drinking milk. In fact, Paine thought the British colonies “would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power taken any notice of her.” As a patriot, Thomas Paine thought although England took care of them indifferent wars with neighbor …show more content…

In addition, Spain and France may assist England for they don’t want their colonies to take similar actions and get independent. To say the least, if they won, they would soon be able to conquer other places, which would make American the public enemy for many European countries. Compared to the Great Britain, as Chalmers claimed, America is just vulnerable and any reasonable person won’t want to be the enemy of England. About the idea of Paine that America would be a free port of Europe, Chalmers thought that is not rational too for European countries would want to populate their own colonies other than America. Instead, America would only lose their only commerce attention, Great Britain. From another perspective, Chalmers thought England doesn’t want America to leave them for they may fell quickly after the independent. Therefore, they may keep a better relationship with America. Therefore, they should actually give another, the last, petition to the

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Thomas Paine, born in Thetford, England in 1737, would later in life write a pamphlet that swayed opinions to support independence from England. Before immigrating to America in 1774, Paine worked as an excise man, collecting taxes. Before being fired from his job, in 1772 he published a pamphlet aiding his fellow excise men. After being fired from his job, he declared bankruptcy and, with Benjamin Franklin, immigrated to America. Arriving in Philadelphia in 1774, Paine became a journalist and wrote for Pennsylvania Magazine.

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Thomas Paine wrote a series of articles known collectively as "The Crisis" to support his argument for independence from England during the Revolutionary War. Thomas Paine 's reasoning for writing this collection of articles is rather sound. The call to arms in this document calls “tens of thousands” to arms to battle Great Britain and their unfair rule over their country. Paine was justified in his writing, the unfair rule of the British government did need to be “called out” sort of speak.

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His intimidating remarks against Tories reveal his belief of non-supporters of American independence being cowards because of their loyalty to Great Britain. Overall, Paine’s powerful words are very revolutionary because of his motivating statements supporting the separation from

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He states that all that the British forces in America are doing “is rather a ravage than a conquest” and that the Jerseys “would have quickly repulsed” meaning that a year ago the Jerseys would quickly and successfully stop the attack against them. By saying this he almost redirects his ideas back to the pathos used in the paragraph above this quote. In the paragraph above, he states “it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”, Even though Paine believes that America’s independence being declared was delayed for too long, he wants everyone to give more value to the victory they will have and the freedom they will rightfully

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In his discussion, Paine argues out that apart from gaining international respect, America would advance its own security and commerce by being able to trade with other partners in Europe and the globe. He mentions that all Europe should benefit from America’s goods not only Britain. He explains that by saying British are not the only people who settled the continent but different parts of Europe, so British should not be the only European country to benefit from the colonies. As a result of all the reasons above, the colonies needed no reason to continue submitting to Britain authority and should gain their

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Before the pamphlet was published, nobody was brave enough to denounce loyalism and publicly announce that colonists should be engaged in revolutionary battles. Not even John Adams spoke a word that proclaimed independence until “Common Sense” was published. The “Declaration of Independence” that’s written by Thomas Jefferson was highly influenced by “Common Sense” that Thomas Paine wrote. The second continental congress voted and agreed on signing the declaration of independence on July 2, 1776, and was officially recognized on July 4, 1776. If Thomas Paine didn’t propose “Common Sense”, most likely the declaration of independence wouldn’t be signed, which may lead to America not having their own freedom.

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“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind” (Paine 1). With the Revolutionary War beginning in 1775, and the publication of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, only a year later, this statement was widely recognized and addressed the issue at hand: the fight for independence. According to Paine’s assertion, America’s desire for peace and freedom is a basic necessity of life; it is what all men desire. Despite this innate thirst for liberty, many residents of America’s thirteen colonies were fearful of Great Britain, and because of this fear, complied with Great Britain’s every whim. Consequently, most colonists were hesitant to fight against the mother country for independence.

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Throughout the excerpts of Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” he makes many compelling points on why America during that time was in the perfect position for independence. In the first paragraph Paine writes about how the economy of the colonies could thrive if they were not under the rule of the Britain. He makes points on how if America was not limited in trade by Britain and the colonies had its own legislative branch the economy would be a lot stronger. In the second paragraph Thomas Paine talks about how in the past if the colonies tried to rebel their military would not have been ready but during the time “Common Sense” was written the American military was ready. Another factor in why Paine supported Colonist independence was because it was

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Paine is against America having a connection with Britain and a single person having power. As Paine expresses, King George III is not and should not be able to be in power of the colonists because mankind is created to be equal and therefore kings should be “disapproved by nature” (Paine 217). Not only does Paine express his anger at the topic of a ruler for all, he also voices that America is connected to whatever Britain does and whatever problems Britain has: implying that America has no say what so ever under Britain (Paine 218). Paine is suggesting that Britain is not only hurting but also is subordinating America and its colonies, so a declaration of independence is in need.

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“It is wholly owing to the Constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the government that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in Turkey.” We should give power to someone who is fair and not self-centered. Paine stated “from the errors of other nations, let us learn wisdom” to advise us to avoid repeating the past in the future from learning about bad past experiences. Paine argued for American’s separation from England by comparing the Kings that Great Britain has had to what a government should be

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Before this many Colonists did not know of the harsh injustices done by the British. They also did not believe that the cause for revolution was urgent. Thomas Paine showed them that the cause was urgent by explaining the wrongs the British had committed and why King George was a tyrant. He also showed them that America did not need the British Empire 's protection. This quote shows his reasoning “Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.”

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Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are interested (Paine, 1776)”. Thomas Paine disagrees with the British government and the way they handling business he encouraged Americas to declare their independence. The Declaration of independence was a documented created by Thomas Jefferson that announced the split from the colonies and Great Britain, it. The Declaration of Independence states “we hold these…all men are created equal...with certain unalienable rights...that when any form of government becomes destructive... It is the right of the people to alter or abolish it (Jefferson, 1776)”.

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In the winter of 1776, during American Revolution, the still young America faced three major dilemmas: their seemingly imminent defeat, the moral debate between the Whigs and the British loyalists, and the panic and confusion of the American public. In efforts to settle the three American dilemmas, Thomas Paine wrote The Crisis No. 1 in December of 1776. In his work, Paine aimed to calm the American public and convince them to stand up to the British, and turn the war into an American victory. Paine was very successful in this, and his paper was proclaimed as one of the most persuasive works of the American Revolution. Paine’s

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“Common Sense” also played a major role in shaping a colonial squabble into the American Revolution. When Paine wrote “Common Sense” many colonist considered themselves to be “aggrieved Britons”. Paine wanted the whole world to be free, his

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Paine stated that when the colonies finally succeed in obtaining their freedom from Britain, America would benefit from trade with other countries. However, obtaining freedom would be difficult because many countries did not want freedom for the colonies. Many countries in Europe wanted to get a piece of America for themselves. The global significance of the American struggle for independence was human rights and freedom. 3.

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