Question

What are the main arguments that Thomas Paine makes in his pamphlet Common Sense? Why was this pamphlet so popular?

Answer 1

Answer:

Common sense was an essay written by Thomas Paine. It was published for the first time on January 10, 1776, during the American Revolution.

The essay exercised a great influence on public opinion during the American War of Independence, presenting an argument against British rule at a time when the independence issue still caused suspicion and indecision in large part of the settlers. Paine wrote the pamphlet in a simple style so that people could understand it without difficulty, renouncing the philosophical language and Latin, widely used by the writers of the Enlightenment. Paine structured the work as if it were a sermon, relying on the Bible to convince the reader. He connected independence with the generalized Protestant faith and its dissident substrate to present it as an unmistakable American political identity. The historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as "the most incendiary and popular pamphlet that was published during the revolutionary stage".

The essay asserted that the American colonies obtained no compensation from their metropolis, whose sole purpose was to exploit their wealth, and that any sensible analysis would conclude with the need to obtain independence from British rule and establish a republican government of their own.