fieldston american reader volume i – fall 2007 - Ethical Culture ...

Thomas Paine, “Common Sense”(January 10, 1776)Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was born in England to a poor Quakerfather and Anglican mother. After meeting Benjamin Franklinin London, he emigrated to the colonies late in 1774 and got a jobediting the Pennsylvania Magazine. Tensions between Englandand the colonies were high, and Paine soon leapt into the fray. Afterthe Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, Paineconcluded that the American colonial revolt should be aimed notagainst unjust taxation but towards full independence from GreatBritain. Paine’s arguments were spelled out in Common Sense, afifty-page pamphlet that was published in January, 1776. It wasan immediate sensation. Close to 150,000 copies were sold withinthree months. and possibly as many as 500,000 copies all together,to a colonial population of but two and half million people. Morethan any other single publication, Paine’s Common Sense persuadedpublic opinion of the case for independence from Great Britain. Whatare Paine’s main arguments for colonial independence? What kindsof language and imagery does he use to express these arguments?How do Paine’s ideas and tone differ from those expressed in theContinental Congresses? Why might his pamphlet held such wideappeal?Volumes have been written on the subject of the strugglebetween England and America. Men of all ranks haveembarked in the controversy, from different motives, and withvarious designs: but all have been ineffectual...I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourishedunder her former connection with Great Britain, the sameconnection is necessary towards her future happiness, and willalways have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallaciousthan this kind of argument. We may as well assert that becausea child has thriven upon milk, that it is never to have meat, orthat the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedentfor the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than istrue; for I answer roundly, that America would have flourishedas much, and probably much more, had no European powertaken any notice of her. The commerce by which she hathenriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will alwayshave a market while eating is the custom of Europe.But she has protected us, say some. That she hath engrossedus is true, and defended the continent at our expense as wellas her own is admitted; and she would have defended Turkeyfrom the same motive... for the sake of trade and dominion.Alas! we have long led away by ancient prejudices, and madelarge sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protectionof Great Britain without considering that her motive wasinterest, not attachment; and that she did not protect us fromour enemies on our account, but from her enemies on her ownaccount, from those who had no quarrel with us on any otheraccount, but who will always be our enemies on the sameaccount. Let Britain waive her pretensions to the continent,or the continent throw off her een , and we should be at peacewith France and Spain were they at war with Britain...But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the moreshame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour theiryoung, nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore,the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens notto be true, or only partly so, and the phrase parent or mothercountry hath been Jesuitically adopted by the king and hisparasites, with a low, papistical design of gaining an unfair biason the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, not England,is the parent country of America. This new world hath been theasylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious libertyfrom every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from thetender embraces of a mother, but fromthe cruelty of a monster; and it is so far true of England, thatthe same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home,pursues their descendants still...I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation to showa single advantage that this continent can reap, by beingconnected to Great Britain... Our corn will fetch its price inany market in Europe, and our imported goods must be paidfor, buy them where we will.But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by thatconnection are without number; and our duty to mankindat large, as well as to ourselves, instructs us to renounce thealliance: because any submission to, or dependence on, GreatBritain tends directly to involve this continent in Europeanwars and quarrels, and sets us at variance with nations whowould otherwise seek our friendship, and against whom wehave neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our market fortrade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part ofit. ‘Tis the true interest of America to steer clear of Europeancontentions, which she never can do while by her dependenceon Britain she is made the makeweight in the scale of Britishpolitics.Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long atpeace, and whenever a war breaks out between England and aforeign power, the trade of America goes to ruin, because of herconnection with Britain. The next war may not turn out likethe last, and should it not, the advocates for reconciliation nowwill be wishing for separation then, because neutrality in thatcase would be a safer convoy than a man of war. Everythingthat is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of theslain, the weeping voice of nature cries, ‘TIS TIME TO PART.Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England102 fieldston american reader volume i – fall 2007