The American Experiment: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and Call for Independence

0:05 We all remember our first job, whether it’s at a store or restaurant or babysitting for a friend, neighbor, or family member, we’ll all have that first responsible moment in our lives. They can be scary. My first job in high school was working on an outdoor retailer where I sold camping equipment. I remember walking in on my first day, feeling excited and intimidated.

0:25 And after some pleasantries with a new supervisor, he took me to the back and asked me to organize a few things. His parting words were, don’t worry. It’s common sense. You’ll figure it out, and then left. Let me tell you, that phrase brought very little comfort to me. What did he mean, common sense? How is this supposed to work? What am I supposed to do? Well, after a few missteps, I did figure it out, but that phrase stuck with me.

0:48 What was he trying to tell me with saying that it’s common sense? What he meant was the task was obvious or straightforward. There’s no trickery or there’s no technique to it. If I just thought about it logically and took my time to work through it, I would come to a very evident conclusion of how things were supposed to be organized in the system I was supposed to follow. This is what Thomas Paine meant when he

1:09 titled his January 1776 pamphlet common sense. Paine was writing after the events of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, but before independence was declared. The olive branch petition had been sent. The Declaration of Causes and Necessities for Taking of Arms had been drafted, but they hadn’t yet moved to declare independence.

1:29 And by they, of course, I mean the Continental Congress. The question of independence was still being debated in the colonies. Should they declare independence from Britain, or was there a more conciliatory way to reach a conclusion where both the colonies and Great Britain would be satisfied with the relationship? His goal was to convince those who were on the fence to join on the side of independence, and they could then take

1:53 up arms or provide materials to support the patriot cause. He thought that independence was the best solution, and, in fact, he thought independence was the only solution. And so he wrote a pamphlet entitled Common Sense, hopefully trying to encourage other colonists to see things in the same way that he did. So what was his message?

2:15 Why did he think the cause of independence was common sense? And how did his argument differ from others who were writing on behalf of the patriot clause, or at least writing against Great Britain, like John Dickinson was in the last video? Every time we go through these primary sources here on Bill of Rights Institute’s Close Reads, we’re only looking at segments of the entire document. So if you want to look at the full

2:35 document, we’ll have that link in the description below. But today, I really just want to look at how Paine is framing up his argument in what he’s saying. That’s common sense. How is he laying that out? So the section we’re looking at, he starts out with in the following pages, I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments and common sense. Now, I’ll say, as critical readers, anytime we see that,

2:57 we should automatically pump the brakes and say, well, are you, though? What is common sense about this? Here, Paine is clearly trying to make an argument that’s evident to those who are reading it. Now, whether or not it is common sense really is up to you to decide. But he is at least trying to make an argument for saying, this is not only the best conclusion you can come to, it’s frankly the only conclusion you can come to.

3:19 He goes on: volumes have been written on the subject of a struggle between England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy from different motives with various designs, but all have been ineffectual in the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the last resort decide this contest; the appeal was the choice of the King

3:39 and the continent have accepted the challenge. All right, few complicated sentences there. What’s he trying to say? We’ve been talking about this a lot. A lot of people have been trying to solve this problem in lots of different ways, but, hey, it’s January 1776, it’s time for us to accept the fact that we’re now in a conflict with Great Britain and he’s saying this is the King’s fault.

4:00 They’ve sent the off branch petitions, they’ve made gestures to try to reconcile things within the empire. But at this moment, there is no other choice now. We have to move for independence. Keep in mind, independence doesn’t come till July of this year. And as good historians, we always know that’s not an inevitable conclusion. Paine, when he’s writing this, does not know that that’s what’s going to take place.

4:21 So again, his argument is, we’ve talked about a lot of different stuff, but frankly, there is no other choice. We have to fight to separate from Great Britain. And what is that cause? He says, the sun never shines on a cause of greater worth. This is not only the thing we have to do, but it is a beautiful thing, it’s a brilliant thing. It is the greatest cause that we could possibly take up and fight on behalf of.

4:47 So it goes on to say as much has been said about the advantages of reconciliation, which, like an agreeable dream, had passed away and left us as we were. It is but right that we should examine the contrary side of the argument and inquire into some of the many material injuries which the colonies sustain and always will sustain by being connected with, and dependent on Great Britain.

5:09 To examine that connection and dependence, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect if dependent. All right, so you can gather from this that a lot of people must be writing about reconciliation. A lot of people may have issue with the way that Great Britain is dealing with the colonies, but what Paine is saying

5:31 here is reconciliation isn’t going to get us anywhere. And I’m going to give you very obvious arguments as to why it’s not getting anywhere. And one of those people who’s arguing for reconciliation is John Dickinson, who wrote letters from a farmer arguing against various different things that the British government had put forward. Dickinson, still in January 1776, is holding on to this idea

5:51 of reconciliation, which he’ll hold on to up until Congress actually declares independence, at which time he declares his support for independence and then signs the Declaration of Independence. But here he is, one of those people that Paine is writing again saying, you can’t reconcile. There is no reconciling these differences within the empire. So he goes on to say, I have heard it asserted by some that as America has flourished under her former

6:14 connection with Great Britain, the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness and will always have the same effect. Alright, so he’s saying we’ve been flourishing under this connection. People say that that’s a good thing. People say that we’re only flourishing because of that connection. Well, I’m going to say that’s wrong. And again, keeping in mind common sense, we may as well assert that because a child

6:36 has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first 20 years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next 20. 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 anything to do with it. All right, what’s he doing here?

6:57 He’s sort of making an absurd claim and then putting that into his argument, saying, what do you mean we wouldn’t have flourished? That’s like saying that a baby who is drinking its milk can never have hard foods because it’s flourishing on the milk, saying think forward, don’t be dependent on this thing that we’ve been doing. Think about what we could do, think about what we could become. And basically think, look, there’s no proof just because we

7:19 flourished this way that it would have been the only way to flourish. So again, he’s hitting at those reconciliation arguments, but he’s doing so in a very sort of surface level way. He’s not going into the nuances of trade or how it is Britain would have defended, or given them access to different ports, or is not going into any of the different particularities that the reconciliation came like. Come no, he’s taking this broad argument

7:40 to try to appeal to as many people as possible. He’s being very evident and obvious, but she has protected us to say some, that she has 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. All right, what’s he saying? Sure, they defend us.

8:02 We paid for some of it. And yeah, okay, they paid for some, too, but they wouldn’t have done that for anybody because it’s for the sake of their trade. They are motivated to defend themselves. It just so happens that they defended the colonies because it’s in their interest. They don’t actually care about the colonies. So again, reconciliation, what’s the point? They’re not bringing us anything. They are working only for themselves.

8:23 And so now we restate that again, 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 our own account, from those who had no quarrel with us

8:45 on any other account, and who will always be our enemies on the same account. Let Britain waive her pretensions to the continent, on the continent or the continent, throw off the defendants and we should be at peace with France and Spain. Were they at war with Britain? All right, the continent now is the North American continent that’s talking about the colonies. What do you say? Again, this isn’t their interest.

9:05 They’re only doing this because they want to protect themselves and they’re interested in enriching themselves. They don’t actually care about the colonies at all, and if they had, they would have gone about things differently. But they don’t care. They’re only protecting us because it’s in their direct interest. He’s really underlining that. And again, if you think about the way that John Dickinson was writing, it was much different, it was much more detailed.

9:25 Now, it’s not to say that one is necessarily right and one is necessarily wrong, but it’s very clear here that Paine’s goal is to appeal to as broad a population as possible. He really wants this heard by people taking into account and for them and go, oh, yeah, this is obvious, this is common sense. You’re right, these arguments are correct. We should move towards independence. So he goes on:

9:47 but Britain is the parent country, they say. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families. Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world has been the asylum of the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty. From every part of Europe hither had they fled, not from the tender embrace

10:10 of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster. That it is so far true of England that the same tyranny which drove the first immigrants from home pursues their descendants still. All right, give me a little history lesson. We think back on our early colonial history. Why did some of the early colonists come to the United States? Well, because they were fleeing religious persecution.

10:30 The Puritans, right, wanted to purify the Church of England that came over here seeking religious liberty. And so he’s holding on to that piece of early American history to say, look, we fled from the persecution of Britain and now here we are, and that persecution is following us onto this continent. Now, again, that’s pretty selective reading of American history.

10:51 And as I’m sure you all know, the experiences of the different colonies were much more, much more varied than that. But he’s not interested in those nuances. What he’s interested in is in this very specific kind of remembering of what was going on. So he’s harping on that to say again, we’re fleeing this persecution and this persecution has followed us onto these shorts.

11:12 So here again back to those people talking about reconciliation. I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation to show a single advantage that this continent can reap by being connected with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge. Not a single advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe and our imported goods must be paid for by them where we will.

11:34 Right, so what is he saying? Look, what are we gaining from being connected to Britain? First, he was calling out what those connections were, stating what he called sees as obvious arguments for why that those are bad. Now he’s flipping the whole thing around and saying, tell me why it’s even good to be connected. What are we gaining from this kind of relationship? Because we can go anywhere and sell our goods, sell our corn.

11:57 He specifically said here and they’ll buy it, but we don’t need to be dependent on Britain to do so. Right, so he goes on: there’s a good fortune of many that was distant from the scene of sorrow. The evil is not sufficient brought to their doors to make them feel the precariousness with which all American property is possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments to Boston.

12:18 That seed of wretchedness will teach us wisdom and instruct us forever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate city who but a few months ago were in ease and affluence, have now no other alternative than to stay and starve or turn and beg. Alright, Boston has been the center of many of these conflicts.

12:40 Bunker Hill happened right outside of it. George Washington’s army is around Boston waiting as the British troops are there. And what he’s saying is, look, you may not be in Boston, you colonists who are in New York or who in Virginia, you may be way away from where these scenes are taking place,

13:01 where things like the Boston Massacre many years before took place. But you should understand now, close your eyes, he’s basically saying, and take yourself there. Imagine what it’s like in Boston and see how their actions, the British actions there, are undermining the trust that we should have in Great Britain. Men of passive tempers look somewhat

13:22 lightly over the offenses of Britain and still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, come, come, we shall be friends again for all this. But examine the passions and feelings of mankind. Bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me whether you can here, after love, honor and faithfully serve the power that has carried fire and sword into your land.

13:43 If you cannot do all these things, then are you only deceiving yourself, and by your delay bringing ruin of wrong prosperity, conjured this image of Boston. Now we’re saying, look, you men of passive care, he’s calling people out, right? He’s saying, look, you’re being passive. You’re not brave enough to step up and resist and you’re trying to just plug your ears and pretend like nothing’s happening.

14:04 I’m telling you that violence is already upon us and if you don’t do anything, you should be ashamed of yourself, is basically what he’s saying. But again, he’s putting all this in the context of it’s obvious, and this is why you should be ashamed. It’s so obvious. What’s going on is bad, bad for you individual colonists who are living somewhere in the colonies that you need to recognize it and step up.

14:26 All right, and then he concludes, the last court is broken. The people of England are presenting addresses against us. O ye that love mankind, ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny, but the tyrant stand forth. Every spot of the old World is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her.

14:47 Europe regards her like a stranger in England have given her warning to depart. O, receive the fugitive and prepare in time and asylum for mankind. All right, so now he’s taking this local thing, he’s like, look, they’re oppressing us. Common sense. It’s obvious they are pressing us. Reconciling within this system obviously isn’t going to do anything because they’re already proving that they can’t be

15:08 trusted, that we’re well beyond this point of reconciliation. And this cause is the cause of all of mankind. This is bigger than all of us. This is the cause of freedom. It’s the cause of liberty. It’s a cause for what it means for individuals to live freely within communities. All right? So that’s a powerful message, right? He’s trying to call upon these huge ideas to inspire individuals who may be

15:29 on the fence or who may be leaning toward the patriot cause, to really see themselves in this larger story, to take up arms or to provide resources to help the cause in whatever way they can. So that’s Paine’s message and again, he’s framing it in these sort of absurd arguments in order to make it seem as though it’s common sense, obvious this is the only way forward, this is what we need to do.

15:49 But why does he think it’s common sense? Well, according to the way that he lays it out is because it is so obvious. Because, look, just because we’ve done things one way doesn’t mean we can’t do it another. They’re oppressing us. They’ve oppressed us in the past. Remember his history story that he told about religious persecution? he said there’s a trend for this, and we’ve seen this before. It’s time for us to take a stand and move on.

16:09 And how does this differ from others who are writing an opposition will? Remember, we’ll think back to John Dickinson. Dickinson was much more measured, even goes out of his way to say, look, we’ve benefited from this relationship with Britain. Britain defends us. It gives us these opportunities to flourish with an empire. We have this inheritance of rights, right? So that was earlier when Paine was talking about this ancient lineage. That’s what he’s talking about.

16:30 We have this tradition of rights from our British sort of background, and now we’re moving against that, right? So that makes some reconciliation individuals uncomfortable. It’s also breaking away the independence revolution. These are drastic actions. And so some of those reconciliation folks are a little bit softer in the rhetoric.

16:51 They don’t want to go that far, because once you do that, again, you’re up against the most powerful empire in the world, or at least one of the most powerful empires in the world. That’s an intimidating thing. Remember, none of these figures know what’s going to happen. So if you’re sitting there and you’re someone who’s on the fence about whether or not you want to move for independence or not, you’re looking around like, well, we don’t have a lot of resources.

17:11 Washington’s army is already struggling outside of Boston. This is tough times, and now you want to go up against this huge empire. Paine is saying, yes, absolutely, and it’s the cause of mankind that we all need to stand for. So what do you think of Paine’s arguments? Are they convincing to you? Are you still on the fence? And there’s always that fun historical

17:32 question to ask yourself would you have been a Patriot or a Loyalist? And we do have an activity. We’ll link it down in the description below if you want to read through some of those different arguments in the way that people made that decision about whether or not they would be a patriot or a loyalist. And I guess another question is, just because you’re in favor of reconciliation, does that make you a Loyalist? It’s an interesting question. Again, John Dickinson was in favor

17:54 of reconciliation until independence was voted on by the Continental Congress, and then he put his name to the Declaration for Independence. Once it was decided he went with what he saw as the right cause, the patriot cause, and so signed his name to that document. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed working through this document. I hope you learned something. Stick around, we’re going through different documents, trying to go chronologically through US

18:15 history this year, so we’ll be releasing more of these in the near future. Also check out our other shows on the channel. My colleague Mary Patterson with different visual primary sources and unpack those. My other colleague Tony Williams has interesting conversations with scholars who talk about these very kinds of issues and how it is that historians and political scientists think about and approach these things. So I hope you’ll come back and thanks so much.

18:39 Well, I’m done studying that video filled in all the blanks for me. Well, just in case you need more help, the Bill of Rights Institute’s YouTube channel has tons of videos on American history, government and civics. From primary source document breakdowns, to historical image analysis, whether you’re studying for a test or just interested in more, they got something for you.

19:01 And they put out more videos all the time. Really? Well, in that case, there’s no harm in brushing up on a few more topics. Check out another video here and be sure to subscribe here so you are never left out.