Thomas Paine: The Pungent Pamp

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense is credited with having precipitated the move for independence. In fact, the exact nature of the American cause would have been rather hard to define in 1775 or early 1776. Clearly the Americans wanted the English to stop abusing them, as they saw it, but how was fighting a war supposed to achieve that end? What would constitute victory? As long as they were still British subjects, they would still be subject to British law, and by 1775 it was unlikely that Parliament would grant them any real form of self-government. As the Declaratory Act of 1766 had made clear, Parliament claimed the right to govern the colonies in any case whatsoever. Since achieving quasi-independence was an unrealistic hope, therefore, the only thing that finally did make sense was American independence, a case made very powerfully by Thomas Paine.

Thomas Paine was a lower middle class Englishman of the 1700's. From his low position in life, Paine noticed how hypocritical and corrupt the English government was and he form

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, English Parliament, Americans English, Continental Army, America Europe, Declaratory Act, Sense Paine, common sense, thomas paine, American Revolution, paines common sense, paines common, continue fight, references god, american independence, wrote common, Thomas Paines, thomas paines, thomas paines common,
Approximate Word count = 719
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)