"Common Sense" by Thomas Paine

By January of 1776 the war was underway. But there were still many Americans who did not want to break away from the British Empire. Some Newspapers talked about the advantages of independence, while other argued against it.

The time was right for Thomas Paine. Paine had come to the American Colonies with the help of Ben Franklin. Paine was a small time writer with strong feeling about Independence.

Paine was a self-educated, working class Englishman who had a poor unhappy childhood. He had been a tax collector, schoolteacher & grocer. He had failed in each job & then had abandoned his wife, but all the time he had read history & politics. From his studies he had come to believe that things should be better. He could not believe that God had intended that the rich take advantage of the poor.

Paine was not an educated man. His enemies said that he was dirty, he drank too much, & that he was dishonest about money. All of this was true, but it did not change the fact that his passionate words touched thousands of colonists' hearts in a way that more educated men never could.

When he wrote "Common Sense" in 1776 he put into words what many men felt and he did it in words that the common man could understand.

According to Paine: "government was a necessary evil." It would not be necessary if men were willing to obey their consciences but since they were not it was necessary to have a government over the people. As John Lock had said men needed government to protect their property & they were willing to give up some freedom in return for security.

While Paine understood the necessity of government he did not believe in the necessity of Kings. Paine saw monarchy as evil. No one by birth should have the right to rule others.

Paine wrote "Common Sense" from the perspective of the common man. The ideas were not new but Paine was the first to make them popular among common men.

It was not long after "Common Sense" came out that Thomas Jefferson wrote the famous Declaration of Independence.

1. What war began in 1776?

2. What country did Paine want independence for?

3. What qualifications did Paine possess that helped him write "Common Sense?"

4. What kind of a man was Paine from a personal point of view?

5. Who help Paine come to America?

6. Why did Paine's words have such an effect on regular Americans?

7. Why did Paine think government was needed.

8. What did Paine think about King George of England?

9. What is a common man?

10. How is a common man different from men like Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson?