Monday, February 13, 2012

Why was Thomas Paine"s writing of the Comman Sense so effective?

        Thomas Paine in 1776, Common Sense was one of the most famous political treatises from the literature of the American Revolution.  Thomas Paine wrote Comman Sense because he was trying to help with the Revolutionary War he wanted them to fight. Paine's political pamphlet brought the rising revolutionary sentiment into sharp focus by placing blame for the suffering of the colonies directly on the reigning British monarch, George III. First and foremost, Common Sense advocated an immediate declaration of independence, postulating a special moral obligation of America to the rest of the world. Not long after publication, the spirit of Paine's argument found resonance in the American Declaration of Independence. Written at the outset of the Revolution, Common Sense became the leaven for the ferment of the times. It stirred the colonists to strengthen their resolve, resulting in the first successful anticolonial action in modern history.  Americans could not break their ties with Britain easily. Despite all the recent hardships, the majority of colonists since birth were reared to believe that England was to be loved and its monarch revered. Americans were divided against themselves. Arguments for independence were growing. Thomas Paine would provide the extra push.Paine avoided flowery prose. He wrote in the language of the people, often quoting the Bible in his arguments. Most people in America had a working knowledge of the Bible, so his arguments rang true. Paine was not religious, but he knew his readers were. King George was "the Pharaoh of England" and "the Royal Brute of Great Britain." He touched a nerve in the American countryside.
  

Image: http://mitchellarchives.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/crisis-end-bright.jpg
Website: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161744.Common_Sense
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100218181500AAJTwcQ
http://www.ushistory.org/us/10f.asp
Media: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3kTkeUOSEk&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL662EE49BE32A5C08
                                                          

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