American History, the Impact of Thomas Paine and Common Sense

Common sense is not something new but it is something which surfaced prior to the revolutionary war.?A name not familiar to some had an impact on the fight to win our independence from Great Britain as it was referred to in our early days.?The name was Thomas Paine.?Besides generating a pamphlet titled Common sense there were several other writings such as The Rights of Man and The American Crisis while these are not the main subject of this book some discussion though brief in some respects will be presented to gain a perspective of who Thomas Paine was and his ideology.?Strangely enough these other writings talk about familiar topics being discussed today.?Paine was an English born philosopher and writer who was ahead of his time concerning the topics of his writings including Common Sense.

????To understand the pamphlet Common Sense we must first talk about the man who created it.?The pamphlet played what I feel was a major role in the colonies declaring their independence.?To begin Thomas Paine was born on January 29, 1737 and is one of the founding fathers of the revolution.?There are several individuals who were part of the movement for independence but this author has a claim to the title “The Father of the American Revolution”.

In researching information for this book I found I was learning more about this individual and the struggles the colonies had in their quest for independence than I remembered from my school days.?The information being presented will be a learning experience which I hope all those who read this book will find worthwhile.?

????The present state of our education system especially associated with our history has changed or is changing with regards to the historical events which have taken place.?Political correctness has taken over our education system and not for the better.?This is the reason why I am writing a series of free e-books about historical events and actions/decisions made by our government.?Many bold decisions were made as our country grew some had a profound effect on how our country would change as we grew as a country but this approach is not what is currently in place.?Education in the past was not something with which a government entity was involved, it was a matter of local responsibility.

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Of the Origin and Design of Government in general, with concise Remarks on the English Constitution

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It is interesting to note in this first section that Paine addressed the foundation of a republican type of government much like we have today.?Today there is a blurred line between our government and society.?Government has become more dictatorial rather than a support function as it was intended when the concept of a central government was created in our early days.?The fact that Thomas Paine talked about a republican form of government during the time of the American Revolution signifies that it is a concept which surfaced as a result of British Rule.

????The model or concept of a centralized government presented by Paine in this section of his pamphlet titled Common Sense was clearly intended to mirror the facts facing the colonists at the time of its publication.?The concept of accountability while not specifically mentioned he did discuss as a central government.?Accountability at any level of government is essential to the success of not only government to live up to its responsibilities but it is essential to the success of a nation.

????Another aspect of this pamphlet was Paine’s evaluation/opinion of the Constitution of the United Kingdom.?The word Constitution implies a written document such as we have in our Constitution but the Constitution of the United Kingdom has no single constitutional document and in effect it is an unwritten constitution.?“The Constitution of the United Kingdom is a sum of laws and principles and concerns both the relationship between the individual and state, and the functioning legislature, legislature and judiciary.??Paine found two tyrannies in the English constitution; monarchical and aristocratic tyranny, in the king and peers, who rule by heredity and contribute nothing to the people.”?Paine criticizes the English constitution by examining the relationship between the king, the peers, and the commons.?The sentence in quotes were taken from Wikipedia related to the Constitution of the United Kingdom

Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession

This part of the pamphlet is about promoting the fact that all men are created equal and that there is or should be no distinction between kings and subjects as is the case with England.?This philosophy was exhibited in our Declaration of Independence and is one which pushed our fight for independence.?The manner in which the United Kingdom controlled the lives of the colonists without their input was a major factor leading up to the Declaration for Independence.?????

????One of the things that Paine discussed in this section was the concept of a constitutional monarchy in which the powers of government are separated between a Parliament or Congress that makes the laws, and a monarch who executes them.?This separation of authority is similar to our system of government.?Congress makes the laws and the President and the Executive Departments/agencies are to enforce them.

????One chilling point to which Paine referred to in a constitutional monarchy is that the limits are insufficient.?He states that power will tend to concentrate into the hands of the monarch or in our case the President, permitting him eventually to transcend any limitations placed upon him.?In our case it is the Constitution.?Our system of government is one of checks and balance and if one portion of our government oversteps their constitutional authority it is the duty of the other branches to step up to the plate and nullify the actions of the branch violating the Constitution.?It does not matter whether it is Congress, the President or the Judiciary branch.?When it comes to the Executive Departments and their agencies it is the responsibility of Congress to take steps to stop decisions which either violates the laws on the books or the Constitution.?With respect to Congress it is our Judiciary branch which decides if the laws written violate the Constitution.?In some cases the decisions of the judiciary specifically the Supreme Court are not necessarily in line with the Constitution based on the Content of laws as written.?In this example it is up to Congress to make the needed changes to be in line with the Constitution.

Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs

????The third section of this pamphlet concentrated on the hostilities between England and the American colonies and he argues the best course of action is independence.?He proposed what amounts to and American Magna Carta.?A continental charter as he referred to he states should come from some intermediate body between the Congress and the people and outlines a Continental Conference that could draft a Continental Charter.?In continuing discussion he proposed each colony would hold elections for five representatives.?A Continental Charter would draft a charter that would secure freedom and property to all men, and the free exercise of religion.?Both of these principles are familiar to our way of government and the rights we have engrained in the Constitution.?He discusses the process further but the primary details are identified in preceding sentences in this paragraph.

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On the Present Ability of America, with some Miscellaneous Reflections

The fourth section of the pamphlet includes Paine's optimistic view of America's military potential at the time of the revolution. For example, he spends pages describing how colonial shipyards, by using the large amounts of lumber available in the country, could quickly create a navy that could rival the Royal Navy.?

???Here again Thomas Paine sought to instill confidence in the colonies for declaring independence and the wide support and popularity of the Common Sense pamphlet made it instrumental and Paine in the fight for Independence.?Publishing back in the early days of our country was not an established process as the tools to produce any material and achieve distribution was difficult at best.?The success and impact of this pamphlet is discussed in the following paragraphs.

????The impact of a pamphlet titled Common Sense could not have been predicted or the speed at which it became knowledge throughout the colonies.?The publicity at which this writing gained so quickly would be welcomed by writers and authors today.?One of the things which caused the popularity was heavy advertisement and a quarrel between Bell and Paine associated with publishing.?The reviews it received in newspapers in the colonies could not have been predicted and they sparked interest in the pamphlet and what it was promoting.?

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Impact

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?????The impact of the pamphlet cannot be denied as it relates to the American Revolution and the fight for freedom from England.?It was a success not only in Philadelphia but across the thirteen colonies.?Some excerpts touted the clear and rational case for independence put forth by Paine.?Another comment stated that Paine had done wonders and worked miracles.?Other comments included that his facts are true; his reasoning, just and conclusive.?

?????Persuasion was needed during this time to convince the colonists that declaring their independence was needed.?This writing of Paine and others impacted the American Revolution and the fight for independence.?Each writer/author has their own style to get their message across and Paine was no different.?Focusing on the common people as they were called he made arguments through debates of morals, government and the mechanisms of democracy.?Common Sense seemed to get a second life with this approach and the rest is history.?

????In these times not everyone liked the writings of Paine but the public did and some individuals who would be considered the establishment in our early days as they were ideas ahead of their times.?Some individuals even considered his ideas as violent but the public and those who signed the Declaration of Independence thought otherwise.?Without this writing and others discussed in this publication the revolution would probably have taken place but not at this time in our history.?The next pamphlet to be discussed by Thomas Paine is titled The American Crisis.?Each of the crisis presented

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The American Crisis

????The words of Thomas Paine in this first chapter are no less appropriate today than it was in the days of the American Revolution.?The words these are the times that try men’s souls apply today to the present state of our country including our national debt and our economic situation.?This election year we as voters have a decision to make concerning the future path of our country just as the future of the colonies was at stake before, during and after the American Revolution.

????Paine went on to talk about the soldiers fighting the battles for our independence and that they deserve the love and thanks of man and woman.?While we do not have the tyranny as he put it in those times we do have the political culture within our government that must change.?It will not be easy to change as it was not an easy task in our early days as a country.?The results of this election not only for President but for Congress will put in place the mechanism to either change our path or stay the course.?It will be our decision as voters to make.??

????The topics of the remaining chapters in this series of articles talks about the events surrounding the revolution and the changes between the British and the colonies.?Some talk directing to those in command while others talk about the struggle for freedom and what it represents.?In talking to Lord Howe he brings up the fact the colonists were an insulted people in relation to their treatment by the British.?Lord Howe published a proclamation and in referring to this proclamation he referred to his series of articles called the Crisis.?The republic of letters as he refers to them is more ancient than monarchy and of far higher character than the court of Britain.?One statement may have some applicability to the times we face today in which he states he that rebels against reason is a real rebel but he that in defense of reason rebels against tyranny has a better title “Defender of the Faith”.

????Another subject addressed in this pamphlet is that of politics.?As we go through life we sometimes forget the ground on which we have traveled.?This is not only as an individual but as a country.?This subject is appropriate in the political culture of today.?There have been many problems through the years and different actions/decisions have been attempted to resolve them.?Some have worked and some not so much.?The problem today is that actions which failed to resolve issues today that we faced in the past should be forgotten.?If it did not work then it will most likely not work today.?New decisions need to be made to resolve issues which sometimes continually surface.

????We are blessed in this country with the freedoms we have but freedoms do not come free today as in the early years of our country.?Paine addressed this topic in this pamphlet when he stated that those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men undergo the fatigues of supporting it.?We will have battles to keeping our freedoms secure but defending our freedoms against our enemies the consequences will be the same.?We must have the stamina like those with which Paine talked about in the early years of our country.?We are always going to have enemies but we must not let our enemies win and we must use the resources available to us to keep us safe and secure including our freedoms.?Our freedoms are constantly under attack not only because of the political culture in place but in some cases our judicial system.?Our battles may sometimes be in our courts but they are battles which must be fought just as the battles to gain our freedom from England in the early days of our country.

????There is no question that the pamphlet which Thomas Paine published in the early days of our country had an impact on convincing the colonists to declare independence from England.?In fact there have been multiple publications of this pamphlet but the principles discussed above are just as important today as they were when Paine wrote the original Common Sense pamphlet.

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The Rights of Man

????Another important publication in which Paine had an impact was a publication titled The Rights of Man. This publication not only proposed practical reformations of English government in suggesting a written Constitution which should seem familiar as when our country began a detailed Constitution was written.?The American Constitution addressed the elimination of aristocratic titles.?Additionally the subject of a national budget without allotted military and war expenses, lower taxes for the poor and subsidized education for them.

????This pamphlet also was an opponent of hereditary government in that the belief that a dictatorial government is necessary because of man’s corrupt and essential nature.?While we do not have a dictatorial government in principle in action we do based on the actions of the federal government by all branches of the government.??This publication denounces the philosophy of Edmund Burke which promotes social stability arises if a country’s poor majority are government by a minority of wealthy aristocrats.?Paine in response to Burke counters the implication that a nation has not a right to form a Government to govern itself.?He states that the wisdom to govern cannot be inherited.

????Paine has two specific arguments against Burke’s philosophy as described in this publication.?The first is that he argues that “Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself in all cases as the age of generations which preceded it”?The second argument counters that the institution of monarchy should not be historically traced from 1688 but from 1066 when William of Normandy forcibly imposed his Norman rule upon Englishmen.

????The Rights of Man was dedicated to George Washington and to the Marquis de Lafayette to acknowledge the importance of the American and French revolutions in formulating the principles of modern democratic governance.?While we have a republican form of government many of the principles of a democracy are part of our structure.?There are three basic principles of another writing titled the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen they are:

One states “men are born, and always continue, free and equal in respect of their rights.?Civil distinctions, therefore, can be founded only on public utility.”?The second states “The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression.”?The last states “the nation is essentially the source of all sovereignty; neither can any individual, nor any body of men, be entitled to any authority, which is not expressly derived from it.”

????The above statement referring to the rights of man clearly had an impact on the rights we have engrained in the Constitution.?Liberty refers to the freedom we have, property has a connection to due process and security refers to not only our national but our individual security.?Government has a responsibility to keep us safe.?The vision of Paine for a two-part republicanism and social welfare was ahead of its time.?The quantity of copies made of this publication speaks volumes as to the content and the interest in what Paine was proposing.?Publishing “The rights of man” was the first publication to damage Burke’s case to restore credit to the French both in Britain and America.

????The publications presented above and the philosophy contained within them clearly had an impact not only on the colonists at the time but where our country would be headed going forward.?The philosophy and proposal suggestions by Paine in these publications found their way in the structure of our government and the content of our Constitution and the rights contained within it.?