Common Sense

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COMMON SENSE

More than any other speech, pamphlet or newspaper article, Thomas Paine's Common Sense transformed pre-Revolutionary opinion among the bickering thirteen colonies from confusion and complacency to a near-universal acceptance of full political and economic independence from England. Written in January, 1776 when America appeared to be on the verge of losing its war against Britain, Common Sense was both a plea to persevere and an appeal to fight for new ideals that would later be expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Winning the War for Independence made possible the creation of new republic that adopted those guiding principles.

Prior to the publication of Common Sense, citizens and leaders of the colonies were deeply divided as to the action to take as they struggled with issues such as taxation without representation. And while there was no doubt about the anger felt by most regarding the repressive policies of the British government, few were willing in 1775 to even toy with the idea of full independence. Even the more radical colonial leaders, such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, still believed that the crisis with England could be resolved through the political system—that the British Parliament and powerful colonial ministers could be persuaded to give New World colonists the full rights accorded British citizens in the

homeland. Even after violence broke out at Lexington and Concord in April, 1775, Continental Commander in Chief George Washington offered a toast to King George III at dinner while fighting the Crown's troops during the day.

a call to arms

Ironically, the author whose document literally changed the political landscape was himself an Englishman. Born in 1737 of tradesman stock, Thomas Paine had held a variety of jobs but never quite found his niche. As an excise officer he had begun to show his skill as an author, writing a petition to the government in London to raise the salaries of his fellow tax collectors. And whereas Paine's petition fell on deaf ears, his time in London resulted in a meeting with Benjamin Franklin, who was working on behalf of the Pennsylvania colony. Self-educated and with an interest in science, Paine was able to secure from Franklin letters of recommendation; and in 1774 he decided to immigrate to the New World with the hope of changing his fortunes.

He settled in Philadelphia, at the time the largest city in the colonies, behind only London in the whole of the British Empire. In short order Paine became a successful writer and co-founder of the new Pennsylvania Magazine. Emboldened by the success of his articles and encouraged by Franklin, Paine decided to put pen to paper for a larger cause.

enlightenment underpinnings

Given their immersion in French intellectual society, both Thomas Jefferson and Franklin were schooled in the principles of the Enlightenment movement—belief in human reason and individual liberty, skepticism of the divine right of kings. But it was Paine, fully aware of British Enlightenment theorist John Locke, who most dramatically spread the ideas of liberty, equality and individual self-governance in the practical context of the struggle with England. He declared, "… [T]here is something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island."

Published on January 10, 1776, Common Sense put democratic theory in simple language that drew upon analogies that common citizens could understand. It went first to the crux of the issue, that people were given by God the fundamental right to form a government based on reason. Paine began with an argument that fundamentally changed the political discourse of the colonies. He protested that the monarchy claimed to be a "race of men [who] came into the world … exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species" before going on to chastise the "crowned ruffian" George III as the root of the current crisis. An example of Paine's biting analysis of monarchy: "One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion."

After he hacked away at the root, Paine went on bring the entire tree down, laying out the current situation and arguing that independence was virtually the only means of improving it: "I have hear it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connexion with Great Britain, that the same connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may well assert, that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat; or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty."

To say that Common Sense spread like wildfire would be an understatement. In an era when news traveled at a snail's pace and pamphlets rarely spread beyond a local audience, the arguments in Paine's changed the entire political debate throughout the colonies with near-miraculous speed. So popular was the pamphlet that within a year at least 500,000 copies were in circulation, roughly one copy per colonial household. As John Adams (who had written his share of pamphlets) wrote to his wife Abigail, Paine had "a better hand at pulling down the building."

And as it spread, not only did the argument of peace with England wither but George III went from a benevolent father-figure to the personification of a tyrannical oppressor. Those few who favored some new form of American monarchy virtually disappeared from public discourse as the cause of a republic became the clarion call. General Washington went from toasting the King to using Common Sense to inspire his beleaguered troops in the field. Soon, leaders such as Adams, Franklin and Jefferson spoke freely of total separation from England.

Paine himself joined the revolutionary army, later traveled to France in support of its own 1791 revolution, and wrote many other influential pamphlets such as The Rights of Man. But in a strange twist of fate Paine died in the new America in 1809, not as a founding father, but as an almost forgotten figure. Most people failed to value his contribution. Others knew better. As John Adams said at the time: "I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Thomas Paine."

EXCERPT FROM COMMON SENSE BY THOMAS PAINE

A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance. If we omit it now, some, Massenello 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, may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into the hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the news the fatal business might be done, and ourselves suffering like the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror….

Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these inextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, of have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. The robber and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice. O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mind.

I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the countries, would take place one time or other. And there is no instance in which we have shown less judgment, than in endeavoring to describe, what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for independence.

In addition to his direct influence on his contemporaries, Paine captured the idea that America had a larger role to play in history. "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind are affected…" This sense of a mission to be a beacon of freedom and spread democracy has been deeply imprinted upon American society, culture, and identity.