Common Sense By: Thomas Paine

Group 1:

Jayde Havers, Abby O’Brien, Kaylee McRae, Alyssa Stroud, Brent Wedge

The Beginning of Government

Why?• The need for protection• Security• Man would need no other lawgiver

Without it:

- Chaos

- Disastrous situations increased

Society vs. Government

• Society

- Is produced by our wants- A blessing- Made by the people

• Government- Created by our wickedness- “necessary evil”

-bad, but needed- “loss of innocence”

Absolute Governments

• “Disgrace of human nature.”• Excludes man from the means of information• One person makes decisions

Bad Reasons:• Easily corrupted

-Only one person • Opinions don’t matter• People don’t get to have a say in decisions• Favors one side

Monarchy

-Thirst for absolute power

-Takes away liberties of people

-British government divided into two

-Monarchial and Aristocratic

-Parliament acts as King’s dummy

English Constitution

-The King is one, the people another

-Peers: on behalf of king

Commons: on behalf of people

-House divided against itself

-Law comes from parliament

-Feeling of nationalism

-English people think their gov’t is best

Common SenseCommon Sense

Group II

Peter Marciano IICaswell StantonCurt MonkhouseTravis Radomski

Chris Spears

Where Monarchy Came Where Monarchy Came FromFrom

• First introduced by Heathens – paid honors to deceased kings

• Copied by the children of Israel

• Christian World expands upon Heathens Kings by paying tribute to their living Kings

Bible on MonarchyBible on Monarchy

•Bible used to appeal to a wider audience

•Samuel’s Story

Evil of MonarchyEvil of Monarchy• “One man above the rest cannot justify

equal rights of nature.”

• Seen few good monarchs- Mostly bad ones

• Monarchy opens the door for foolish, wicked, and improper human beings

Hereditary MonarchyHereditary Monarchy• “For all men being originally equals, no

one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever.”

• Succession could put people under the government of a rogue or a fool

Evil of British MonarchyEvil of British Monarchy• England only had a few monarchs that

were respectable

• Paine believed that William the Conqueror was no hero but a common man who fought his way to the throne

Type of Government we Type of Government we should haveshould have

• NOT a Monarchy: “‘Tis a form of government in which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it.”

• Republic – without a Monarch

Common Sense Group 3

Tyler DavisLucian Greco

Marisa DeRoseAubrey ShoupAshley Myers

Paine’s Beliefs• Paine argues that America didn’t prosper

because they were a colony of Great Britain

• Paine thought that Britain watched over the colonies for its own economic growth

• The colonies got raw materials to be sent back to Britain. Then the colonies would buy back their finished goods

• Paine also stated that great Britain wasn’t the mother country of the colonies but Europe as a whole was

• Only 1/3 of the colonies population was English

“Besides, what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe; because it is the interest of all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade will always be a protection, and her

barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders.” • If the American colonies keep open trade to

all European countries, it would in a sense secure peaceful relations because the colonies would be a source of profit

Choosing Sides• Reconciliation supporters were

usually the people that wanted separation

• Bulk of colonial army consisted of men that had the least land, advantages, and least amount of freedom

• These people sided with the rebels• Everyone chose one side or the

other

Britain an Unfit Ruler

• Situations like the Boston Massacre, unfair taxes, Quartering act, ect

• It is unfit that an island such as Britain is ruling a continent

• Britain only saw the colonies as a source of revenue

• No taxation without representation

Breaking away from Britain

• How could the colonists keep peace with Britain after the battles of Lexington and Concord?

• This point it was too late for reconciliation because Britain already drew blood from the colonists and killed English men

• They were on the brink of war• An advantage to breaking away would be

freedom of trade and a better economy

Waging War

• As “Common Sense” was spread throughout the colonies people saw began to see the evil in Britain rule

• This led to the uniform thought of the people wanting to take action and separate from Britain

Period 9

Rachel Smith

Andy Moore

Jordan Darrow

Shawn Dubin

Jordan Shulman

“Small islands not capable of protecting themselves are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.” – Thomas Paine

This quote is basically saying that:

England is the small island and a small island should not be ruling the 13 colonies

He is saying that the way all of this is happening is backwards and it shouldn’t be happening

They are not completely powerless however, they still can govern themselves to a certain extent

“Dearly, dearly, do we pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for in a just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay a Bunker-hill price for law, as for land

Paine says that the colonists are not fighting for just one thing anymore, we are now fighting for many different things

Paine is saying now that too many things have happened just to be fighting for taxes and its become about the independence of the country

Paine says its too late to try to compromise. They have already spilt American blood

King can deal with the colonist’s pain and struggles

The British have already spilt American Blood

It is too late to go back to the British

Laws have already been pasted

Fights have already spread

To the monarchy, American colonists are nothing

Just another form of resources

They want total power

American Colonists want to rule themselves

Unable to due to monarchy

“America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics.”

The British believe the American colonies are a business

They colonies were created solely to serve the British.

The British cannot govern the colonies fairly

The colonies independence is inevitable

Colonists have manifested a spirit of good order

Prefer self-government over British rule

Paine believes a Republican would be best

One president

Each colony gets 30 delegates

390 delegates overall

After the president is chosen, delegates reduced to one per colony

Paine speaks of a fugitive called “freedom”

America should receive said fugitive

Been denied freedom long enough

Paine’s philosophy: Why America should be free from the British

Shows the wrongs England has done

“Government of our own is our natural right.”

“In free countries the law ought to be King.