Common Sense

Thomas Paine was an author, a revolutionary, and a radical. He is known as one of the founding fathers of the United States and his pamphlet Common Sense was well regarded in convincing America to overthrow the tyrannical rule of Great Britain and demand and gain independence as a sovereign nation. His works supported the idea that America should become an independent nation and break off from the British Empire. His role as a revolutionary caused him to write pamphlets and propaganda supporting the Revolutionary cause. Common Sense heavily pushes the revolutionary viewpoint and attempts to persuade the colonists towards sovereignty.

Paine was not a huge fan of the monarchy, and pushes his view many times throughout his pamphlet. He also wasn't a big fan of government but like all wise men knew it was a necessary evil as evidenced in this quote "Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one. (Paine)" This quote demonstrates his distaste for government and although he thinks government is evil he knows a society cannot function without one, and therefore should have the best of the worst to make things more manageable. This is why Paine supports a government by the people and for the people instead of one run by a monarch and his descendants, which he believes to be a very ill form of government. I like Paine's idea that government is a necessary evil and his way of convincing people of this by outlining the fallacy's of monarchy get a strong point across and would have likely invoked much emotion and ill temperament against the crown, demonstrating his skillful approach to propaganda.

Paine's distaste towards the crown is extremely prevalent in this article as evidenced in several quotes such as "Absolute governments (though the disgrace of human nature) have this advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, they know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise the remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. (Paine)" demonstrate his nature of planting ill will in his audience. Paine was a propagandist and his job was to spread hatred of the crown in the colonists to invoke the want of a revolution to dispatch of the Empire and form a new nation. Through his masterful use of language and disgust towards the tyranny of rulers he is able to effectively convey his points and spur the reader into contempt for the crown.

Paine was an extremely efficient propagandist and his writings such as Common Sense were vital to the Revolutionary cause. His papers kept up the moral of the Revolutionaries while opening the eyes of lesser concerned citizens and convincing them of the tyrannical and horrid method the English crown ruled with. Due to his writings the Revolutionaries were able to properly carry out a revolution with the support of the people. His writing style of plain and simple fact was extremely effective in it's simplicity and helped convey his message in his writing.

Works Cited

Paine, Thomas. "Common Sense." Archiving Early America. Online. 17 Oct. 2010.