Common Sense -Thomas Paine

Tiffany Garcia

English 48A
11/10/09

Book Quote:

“if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.” –(Paine 635)

Online Quote:

“With these defining words, Thomas Paine strikes fear into those Americans who do not support the revolution. Paine resorts to name calling when he refers to the British as ‘murderers’ and all their supporters as ‘cowards’ and ‘sycophants.’ This attempt is logical in the sense that Paine asks his audience to step back and look at themselves. It is this self-reflecting approach that he uses in order to further capture his audience. –Socyberty

Summary:

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was a pamphlet that was meant to uproar the people of the English colonies against Great Britain. Pain’s introduction addresses the abusiveness of power by the crown and its claim to have the right. He also mentions the author will not be revealed. The rest of what we see in Norton’s Anthology version, Paine argues the need and benefit of breaking connections from Great Britain. America’s living by trade will do better business throughout Europe if it has an open dock. Great Britain has not protected them from America’s enemies but from their own enemies, Great Britain’s. Though most of them have originated from England, England had originated from France so if they should be in control by their origin then England should be controlled by its origin France.

Opinion:

I find him to get aggressive with his readers in this part which is good to get their extreme attention. It is dangerous though because the reader could take it so insulting and ridiculous that they would have thrown the pamphlet out. However most of them didn’t because it was written at the right time when the colonies were already tired of Great Britain and wanted to be rid of them. They had already experienced a great amount of murders by the red coats. Their loved ones murderers would not have gone away to prison as they would if they were in English soil. But because these colonies were already seen as a threat in loss of power because of the great distance, the crown would need to keep them on their toes and would be taken advantage of them.