Thomas Paine was very effective when he made his arguments for America’s independence because of his extensive analysis of possible counterarguments for each of his arguments. His arguments had their weak links but he successfully supplemented these weaknesses through appeals to pathos and ethos. He mainly advocates for the principle that governments are for the people and by the people and through this he shows how the current conditions of the time reflect the opposite of that principle with Britain’s handling of the colonies by talking about how the monarchy is too powerful and by using other matters of state as examples. One instance of this is when Paine writes that “if we omit it [a constitution of our own] now, some Massanello may hereafter arise, who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government, finally sweep away the liberties of the Continent like a deluge.”
Imagine if a “Massanello” did arise like Paine posited would be likely with the temporary measures Britain had taken to remedy the instability, and which would mean the American people would have to face the fate of the South American nations after they became independent with insane social
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America was nearly the same in Paine’s day if one considers it based on Paine’s assertion that America had evolved from just a British colony to nation built by immigrants from all over Europe, this early in American history. Paine uses this as a foundation to assert that England is owed no debt of loyalty by American colonists and is not America’s mother country. Paine also makes the point based on how England was invaded and heavily influenced by France and also the aforementioned position to say that “by the same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by