Question

Common Sense

Answer 1

According to Thomas Paine, it is just and justifiable to go to war under two circumstances. One of them is when the sacrifice of a few men would save masses of human beings and made them happy. The evidence of this can be grasped by the phrase he uses: '... when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy.'

The other situation that can justify a war is when troops invade a country and make it theirs. Paine beholds a country as a home, that's why he uses that metaphor to describe a piece of land. The evidence for this statement is when he says '... but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it... am I to suffer it?

On the other hand, he does not believe it is justifiable to go to war seeking wealth. He states: 'Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war...'