common sense by: thomas paine group 1: jayde havers, abby o’brien, kaylee mcrae, alyssa stroud,...
TRANSCRIPT
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.