Thomas Paine Common Sense Analysis

1100 Words5 Pages
To even think about disagreeing with the words of Thomas Paine in Common Sense seems absurd. After all his words in Common Sense encouraged many americans to want to separate from Britain and is one of the catalysts of the American Revolution. Looking at his work 239 years later and living in an America that isn’t controlled by Britain, it may seem next to impossible. But, 239 years ago that was a different story. Imagine someone now saying that there should be a new type of government for America. That idea sounds almost insane. For the colonists at the time Common Sense was similar to this. Some people agreed wholeheartedly, while some were uncertain, and others completely disagreed with the ideas in Common Sense. This essay will give a…show more content…
Paine (1776) states that as a last resource the colonies will have to take arms and “the continent has accepted the challenge” (p. 45). Britain had a well established navy with trained men, while the colonies did not. Inglis (2009) states that the british navy was the “greatest naval power in the world” and had the advantage over the colonies because of “her insular situation, her nurseries for seamen, the superiority of those seamen above others, these circumstances to mention no other, combine to make her the first maritime power in the universe” (para. 7). What would make Paine believe that the colonies with no established navy could take on the British empire. If the colonies were to go against Britain they would be outnumbered and slaughtered. Would the colonists really be willing to die for independence because of the words that Paine wrote. Would they really want independence at the cost of thousands of…show more content…
In order to get a navy that could rival Great Britain’s, Paine (1776) estimates that it would only cost 3,500,000 pounds of sterling (p. 89). How exactly would this navy be paid for? From a few generous donations or from taxes? Norton, Kamensky, Sheriff, Blight, Chudacoff, Logevall, & Bailey (2008) states that “the national debt had doubled during the Seven Years’ War” and Britain had to “find new sources of funds, and the British people were already heavily taxed. Because the colonists had benefitted greatly from wartime outlays” it was concluded that “Anglo-Americans should shoulder a large share of the empire’s costs” (p. 117). Many colonists were upset that they were being taxed to help pay off the war debt from the seven years’ war. So why would they want to pay taxes on yet another war. When discussing the sum it would cost to raise a navy, Inglis (1776) states that “even this sum carries horror in the very idea of it; and yet many deluded people flatter themselves that they will pay no taxes, if we are once independent” (p. 58). If the colonists were to build a navy that size they would be foolish to believe they would not have to pay for it. How would one go about collecting the money? According to Inglis (1776) the taxes to cover the cost of the navy would be “over and above what was paid in times past” (p. 59). Why would Paine think that the colonists would
Open Document