Thomas Paine and "Common
Sense"
Overview
Level: Upper level 11th Grade and Advanced Placement
Purpose: This lesson is designed to not only understand
the use of propaganda during the American Revolutionary War, but also,
to be able to analyze a primary source document in the context of the period
of time
Overview: The study of the amount of propaganda disseminated
before and after the beginning of the American Revolution is a very interesting
aspect of this intriguing time period. This lesson is designed to analyze
the pamphlet by "Common Sense" Thomas Paine and investigate its
impact on colonial thinking. Considering the situation in the colonies
in January 1776, Paine felt that independence was the only solution. American
must be free and to be free she must be independent. The pamphlet was aimed
at the common people. It attacked England, its institutions, and the King.
The Lesson Plan
Objectives:
1. The student should be able to analyze a primary source
document ("Common Sense") and place its importance
in the context of the time period by understanding causes and effects.
2. The student will research and period of time called
"The Enlightenment" and discuss its impact on the
thinking of Thomas Paine.
3. The student will list the major techniques of propaganda
(testimonial, cardstacking, plain folks, glittering generalities,
bandwagon) and apply those to the major aspects of Paine's "Common
Sense".
Procedure:
1. In preparation for this discussion students should
have read excerpts from Thomas Paine's "Common Sense".
A good "springboard" question to begin the discussion is to ask
students to generally explain the importance of Thomas Paine
and "Common Sense" in the context of the period 1763-1776.
Why would his writing be considered "revolutionary" literature.
2. Give some background information about Thomas Paine
and his general philosophy.
* Paine was born in 173 and died in 1809.
* Common sense was published in January 176,
it was 47 pages in length, sold for 2 shillings,
* An estimated 150,000 bought the pamphlet
and a possibly 500,000 read it
* Paine applied the ideas of the Enlightenment
(rule of reason) to his writings.
* He has not been though of as an original
thinker but primarily a pamphleteer (he also wrote on
such subjects as the rights of women, criticized slavery, discussed the
cruelty to animals and the inhumanity of dueling.
* Thomas Paine's works reflect his belief
in natural reason and natural rights, political equality, tolerance,
civil liberties, and the dignity of man.
3. To put the impact of "Common Sense" in the
proper perspective it may be necessary to give
students some background of the events leading up to the issuing of "Common
Sense" (April of 1775-January, 1776). The following events
should be briefly discussed before addressing the issues
of Paine's call for independence from Great Britain.
- Lexington-Concord
- Ticonderoga
- Bunker Hill
- Colonial attack on Quebec
4. A good technique in terms of a student being prepared
for this type of discussion is to have him/her write a summary
of the most important aspects of the document (in this case "Common
Sense). Have someone read the most important part of his/her
summary.
5. Deal with the following questions that Paine poses
in his pamphlet (that may come from those who disagree with
his contentions) and have the class deal with these questions (the questions
are the bases for his arguments). Some will argue that:
a. America has flourished under her former
connection with Great Britain. ("Nothing can be more fallacious
than this kind of argument. We may as well assert, that because a child
has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat; or that the first
twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty.
But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that
America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European
power had any thing to do with her. The commerce by which she hath enriched
herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while
eating is the custom of Europe.")
b. Great Britain has protected us.
("But she has protected us, say some.
That she hath engrossed us is true, and defended the continent at our expense
as well as her own is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from
the same motive, viz. the sake of trade and dominion."
"Alas, we have been long led away by
ancient prejudices and made large sacrifices to superstition. We
have boasted the protection of Great Britain, without considering, that
her motive was interest not attachment; that she did not protect
us from our enemies on our account, but from her enemies on
her own account, from those who had no quarrel with us on any other account,
and who will always be our enemies on the same account. Let
Britain wave her pretensions to the continent, or the continent
throw off the dependence, and we should be at peace with France and Spain
were they at war with Britain. The miseries of Hanover last
war Ought to warn us against connections.")
c. The colonies have no relationship with each other
except for their common connection with Britain.
("....that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys,
and so on for the rest, are sister colonies by the way of England;
this is certainly a very roundabout way of proving relation ship, but it
is the nearest and only true way of proving enemyship, if I
may so call it. France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever
will be our enemies as Americans, but as our being the subjects of Great
Britain.")
d. Great Britain is the parent country.
("But Britain is the parent country,
say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do
not devour their young; nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore
the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens
not to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase Parent or
mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by the king and his parasites,
with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the
credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is
the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for
the persecuted lovers off civil and religious liberty from
every Part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender
embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is
so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the
first emigrants from home pursues their descendants still.")
e. We should try a reconciliation.
("....there are no advantages: we can
never go back, prostitution to innocence, a lover cannot forgive
the ravisher of his mistress)Bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the
touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether you can hereafter
love, honor, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried
fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are you
only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin
upon posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you
can neither love nor honor, will be forced and unnatural, and being formed
only on the plan of present convenience, will in a little time
fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. But if you
say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house
been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your face?
Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or
bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and
yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not,
then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have,
and can still shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy the
name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may
be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward,
and the spirit of a sycophant.
"Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation,
can ye restore to us the time that is past? Can ye give to
prostitution its former innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and
America. The last cord now is broken, the people of England
are presenting addresses against us. There are injuries which
nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be nature if she did. As well
can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the
continent forgive the murders of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted
in us these inextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They
are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish
us from the herd of common animals. The social compact would
dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, of have only a casual existence
were we callous to the touches of affection. The robber and
the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries
which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice.
6. Thomas Paine was the first major writer to attack
the King of England, George III. Before the publication
of " Common Sense", Parliament was the political "body"
to blame for the colonial misfortunes. Analyze parts of "Common
Sense" in terms of Paine's perception of the King and monarchies
in general.
"But the king you will say has a negative
in England; the people there can make no laws without his consent.
in point of right and good order, there is something very ridiculous, that
a youth of twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall
say to several millions of people, older and wiser than himself,
I forbid this or that act of yours to be law. But where says some is the
King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns
above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal of
Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors,
let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter;
let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God;let
a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as
we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For
as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries
the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any
ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion
of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the
people whose right it is.
But this general massacre of mankind, is
one of the privileges, and the certain consequences of Kings;
for as nature knows them not, they know not her, and although they are
beings of our own creating, they know not us, and are become
the gods of their creators. The speech hath one good quality,
which is, that it is not calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if
we would, be deceived by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on
the face of it. It leaves us at no loss: And every line convinces,
even in the moment of reading, that He, who hunts the woods for prey, the
naked and untutored Indian, is less a Savage than the King
of Britain.
However, it matters very little now, what
the King of England either says or does; he hath wickedly broken
through every moral and human obligation, trampled nature and conscience
beneath his feet; and by a steady and constitutional spirit
of insolence and cruelty, procured for himself an universal
hatred."
7. Read the most important passage in the selection and
have class members react to Paine's plea for independence.
"Every thing that is right or natural
pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice
of nature cries, 'TIS TIME TO PART. Even the distance at which the Almighty
hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural proof,
that the authority of the one, over the other, was never the
design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent was discovered,
adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it was
peopled increases the force of it. The reformation was preceded
by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open
a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford
neither friendship nor safety.
Topics for Discussion
The following is a number of questions that students
might want to consider before, during, or after the Thomas Paine and "Common
Sense" Lesson Plan.
1. On what basis does Thomas Paine demand independence
from the Empire?
2. How does Paine dispose of the arguments in favor of
continued membership in the British Empire?
3. What reasons does he advance that this course is necessary?
4. Thomas Paine also wrote "The Crisis", "The
Rights of Man", and "The Age of Reason".
Have students react to the point of view
that Paine may have had more influence upon the thinking and
acting of the human race than any other Englishman except Shakespeare.
5. "Common Sense" has been characterized as
a "mixture of reasonable, realistic, and practical contentions
It was demagogic, emotional, and partisan. Have students react to this
assessment.
6. The following is a list of other points Thomas Paine
makes in "Common Sense":
1. Our involvement with Europe has drawn
us into European wars.
2. Because of "mercantilism"our
trade is ruined.
3. The people of Boston have suffered because
of the Intolerable Acts.
4. The absurdity of an island to ruling
a continent.
5. Great Britain is jealous of our prosperity.
Rank order the above events in terms of the appeal each
would have to the American colonists in further separating them emotionally
from Great Britain.
Assessment
Teachers may apply the assessment tools they are most
comfortable using.
1. Present the students with the following information
concerning the major points of " Common Sense":.
1. The nature of society and government
2. The attack on divine right of kings
3. Reconciliation with Great Britain
4. The present state of economic affairs
5. The present ability of America to win the struggle
with the British. Students should prioritize the
above list in terms of which aspect was most important in convincing
the colonists to separate from Great Britain to the factor
which would be least important. Students would then be pre- pared
to justify their ranking.
2. Thomas Paine, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson
and Benjamin Franklin have been considered important "deists"
of eighteenth century America. Through online resources students should
find information on "deism" and what impact it had on these four
important individuals.
3. George Washington referred to "Common Sense"
as "sound logic and unanswerable reasoning." John
Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson, "History is to ascribe to Paine the
Revolution," and the Marquis de Lafayette stated on numerous
occasions, "To me America without Paine is unthinkable."
Deal with these three references to Thomas Paine by researching the individual
making the assessment. What was there about the backgrounds
of Washington , Adams, or Lafayette that would explain that
assessment?
4. Have students obtain the December 1973 issue of American
Heritage and read the article entitled "Common Sense". Each student
will then write a paper based upon the following guidelines:
1. The basic format for the paper should be as follows:
a. 4-5 pages typed (Double Spaced)
b. Include an introduction, body, and
conclusion
c. One-third should be summary and
two-thirds should be analytical
2. Compare the American Heritage article with one other
source on the same topic. Discuss how your sources show similarities
and differences.
3. Include the main idea of the article and how well
the author supports it.
4. What was the impact of the man, event, or idea on
the topic of the article?
5. List the comparative source at the end of your paper
using correct bibliographical form.
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