The Common Sense and the Winchester Farmers Letters

Yadira Martinez

History 1301

Colonel Lieutenant Clark

2 July 2015

Yadira Martinez

Colonel Lieutenant Clark

History 1301

2 July 2015

Common Sense and Letters of a Westchester Farmer Analysis

        Views of different men impacted the American Revolution. Opinions from people such as Thomas Paine and Samuel Seabury were critical in the time period leading up to the American Revolution.

I believe Thomas Paine played one of the most prominent roles in the American Revolution. I would argue it was his famous pamphlet, The Common Sense, who sparked the push for independence. The political views of both the Loyalist and the Patriots were quite clear. Even so, the potential for the war was under the colonial residents who remained holding a neutral or undecided view. Through The Common Sense, Paine was able to inspire the people to the revolutionary cause. The Common Sense created a “sway” in the balance of Patriots, Loyalist, and “undecided” colonists. The Common Sense turned the “undecided” colonists, placing them among the Patriots. In my opinion, Thomas Paine was the revolutionary philosopher of his era. The Common Sense made the revolution popular, Thomas Paine created complex philosophies into simple terms which all people were able to understand. The Common Sense was written in the language of the people, frequently using biblical quotes. Although Thomas Paine himself was not a religious man, he knew it would appeal to the people, who were generally religious. The Common Sense refers to the king of England, King George, as “the Pharaoh of England” ("Thomas Paine, Common Sense"). Arguments in The Common Sense were simple and straightforward: independence from England and the creation of the democratic republic.  At first, power hungry colonial elites were the ones who urged and found allure in the thought of independence from the monarchy. In my perspective, before The Common Sense, it was simply a matter of what elite would dominate all the people. Despite all the hardships colonists experienced most had been raised and educated with the belief England was to be loved and its monarch to be respected. However, The Common Sense was aimed at the common people and opened their eyes. The Common Sense encouraged the people to realize the idea of ruling under a monarchy was a corrupt institution. In the end, I am convinced Paine’s prose was ultimate common sense because of the questions it gave rise to. Why should the small area of England have the right to rule the immense land of a continent? The colonists were aware foreign support while still professing loyalty to England was virtually almost impossible; so what did they have in mind? How much longer did the colonist plan to represent the many abuses of the crown? As the summer of 1776 approached, such questions led to a concluding answer. The Common Sense gave the people the dream of a democracy, or the ability to control themselves, pushing forward into rebellion. It build a foundation of democratic strain. A strain, in which English leaders found extreme disorder in and eventually struggled to control ("Thomas Paine, Common Sense").