THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1775 1783
THOMAS PAINES COMMON SENSE
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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It is easy to love your country in times of peace.
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It is difficult to support your county in times of war.
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We each much decide if we feel war is needed.
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We must join the war to fight for our freedom.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Common Sense was an instant best-seller. Published in January 1776 in Philadelphia, nearly 120, 000 copies were in circulation by April. Paine’s brilliant arguments were straightforward. He argued for two main points: (1) independence from England and (2) the creation of a democratic republic.
Detailed explanation-2: -First, INDEPENDENCE and RECONCILIATION sound like equally plausible options, but Paine wants to convince the reader that independence is the only acceptable option. If so, then why did he choose SEPARATION instead of INDEPENDENCE? By January 1776, INDEPENDENCE carried the drastic connotations of war and treason.
Detailed explanation-3: -He wanted to give the feeling that the British were not only unjust in their acts on on the colonies. Rather, it was personally against the colonists. Allegiance to the British, he claimed, would make less of a person. Paine promoted the American cause, not necessarily a war.
Detailed explanation-4: -Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation.