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Common Sense (Great Books in Philosophy)

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Common Sense is one of the greatest articles of argumentation ever written. Paine was the finest pamphleteer of his age and was able to turn the discontents of the colonists and, especially, the intellectual leaders of the revolutionary movement into arguments that were easily understood by ordinary colonials and which inspired them to rally to the cause of independence.

I first read Common Sense more than fifty years ago and remember well being impressed with Paine's ability to carry arguments and to anticipate those of his opponents before his tract even hit the street. Over the course of my lifetime, I was inspired by the author and became a pamphleteer of sorts myself. I always told my colleagues that I wanted to become a poor man's Tom Paine. But after reading the piece once again, I realize that almost all who aspire to follow in his footsteps, if not fill his shoes, are doomed to become but very poor copies of the original.

Other reviewers have noted the fluidity of his writing; it reads as simply, directly and forcefully today as it must have nearly a quarter of a millennium ago. Obviously, one did not have to be a great reader to be swayed by the force of Paine's words or to be inspired to the side of those wishing to throw off the English yoke.

I was struck by echoes of Paine in many great American speeches that were running through my mind as I read. A number of quotes from Robert F. Kennedy seemed to have been directly inspired by Common Sense, and I hastily looked them up and offer these two for your consideration:

"It is not enough to understand, or to see clearly. The future will be shaped in the arena of human activity, by those willing to commit their minds and their bodies to the task."

"All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity."

The Declaration of Independence itself is a direct offspring of this great tract. Jefferson and the others charged with developing the document were well aware of Paine and had the opportunity to evaluate his words and to use his methods in creating our declaration, and this takes nothing away from their genius.

This is a document that can be read in short order, and it is free at the Kindle Store. How can you say no to giving it a try?

I read the other reviews and while I agree with them, I must add that this book is more than history. I remember reading Paine's critique of the English government being "so exceedingly complex" that when a problem developed, politicians would fight for years deciding whose fault it was. Finally, when they would try to solve the problem, everyone had a different solution. I thought I was reading an editorial from USNews. I was amazed that many problems that incited the colonies to revolt are now present in our new government. Read this as more than great history. Read it as political science, and public commentary.

This is a GREAT book. Memorable. It gives one a great understanding of how the founders of the US Constitution were thinking.

After reading this, I realized that the US has come almost full circle, back to a monarchy, a Congress that does not respond honestly but by money and the millions of "religious monarchists" who want to make all the laws for everyone else.

Read it.

Over two hundred years after its initial publication, Thomas Paine's `Common Sense' is one of the most influential pamphlets ever written in the English language. Along with Jefferson's Declaration of Independence (1776), Harriet Beecher Stowe's `Uncle Tom's Cabin' (1851-1852), and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (1863), Paine's `Common Sense' can claim to be one of the first works to have instantly captured and then so permanently held the national imagination. `Common Sense', fiercely surpassed colonial newspaper circulations of the time by reaching a record breaking figure of 120,000 - 150,000 copies solely in its first year eventually culminating in a fifth of the adult American population to have either read Common Sense or to have had it read to them during the course of the Revolution. Paine can profess to have had the first ever American best-seller.

`Common Sense' addresses a people that were divided over the question of independence and in it Paine strongly attacks the virtue of a connection with England and presents an emphatic argument for immediate separation. Paine incorporated both a secular and religious argument for independence, thus freeing himself of any erroneous description that he was a Lockean liberal in the Hartzian mold and that Common Sense was simply a bourgeois manifesto. Paine was very much an original thinker among the Enlightenment philosophers and his unparalleled prescription for a new form of government, a united American Republic, and the manner in which it should be conducted were central to the American political vision that emerged during and immediately after the revolution.

[Part of the above review is taken from; "Common Sense?" by Alexander Rayden. Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved]

"Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices." This is just a sample of the wisdom of Thomas Paine in Common Sense. His vivid words and sound arguements make it clear why this pamphlet helped to ignite the revolution. He starts by discussing the general design of government and talking briefly about the English Constitution. The second chapter deals with how silly the whole concept of heredity succession is and how the monarchy has failed. It's reminiscent of Sir Thomas More's Utopia in that respect. Chapter three discusses America at the current time and chapter four is about America's ability to fight Britain at the time. The appendix refutes arguements in the king's speech, which reached America the day Common Sense came out. After reading this important piece of American literature I was ready to go out and fight the British. Thomas Paine's words still have that effect 224 years later.

I read this in print many years ago, and forgot much of the content. The observations are timeless, and to the point, they apply directly to our own government and world governments today. It is scary to realize how much more fluent the author and his prospective early American readers were, than I am. The written words are beautiful, and convey deeper and more colorful meaning then any of the 20th century treatises I have read.

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense," first published in 1776, is one of the essential classics of United States literature. In the book, Paine lays the philosophical groundwork for American independence.

Paine's writing style is still compelling after more than two centuries: he is fiery but logical, and bitingly witty. The book is full of great quotable passages.

In the book Paine sharply criticizes the institution of monarchy, especially the hereditary kind. He argues in favor of American independence from England, and proposes some principles for the government of such an independent state. He advocates "the free exercise of religion" and discusses in some detail issues of national defense.

It is remarkable how relevant Paine's comments remain, and how engaging his writing style is. His remarkable personality animates every page. The spirit of Thomas Paine is, in my opinion, at the core of what is best about the United States, and this book is part of the heritage of every U.S. citizen.

Thomas Paine's January 1776 pamphlet, "Common Sense," is one of those documents of American culture which goes all too frequently neglected these days. Paine's insistent call for independence from Great Britain in the winter before the Second Continental Congress was instrumental in mobilizing public opinion and popular support for political and economic freedom. Economics and social values form the basis of Paine's critique of the British presence in the American colonies, and he never loses sight of either his purpose or his rationale throughout the course of his argument. "Common Sense" follows a logical schematic - from a general philosophical explication of human government, to a critique of the current state of British government, to an analysis of the American situation particularly, and even includes a general plan for an independent American government following independence. "Common Sense" is remarkable for Paine's diagnosis of the American situation, Paine having been only 14 months in the colonies when it was published, and for its eloquence and exhortative value.

Paine begins by outlining human nature as he sees it. In a fascinating inversion of Thomas Hobbes, he notes that monarchy at the present time creates a situation wherein government is as effective as it would be if there were no government at all. The nearly anarchic state of nature defies the logical purpose of government. Paine says that people form societies naturally, and form governments only because human morality is not perfect. The end of government is to protect the right to property and religious freedom. Paine favours a representative democracy wherein there is frequent turn-over, and where the common interests of the people are consulted and catered to. Finally, he argues for the rule and sovereignty of law against the arbitrary and absurd rule of kings and men.

He contrasts this with the British model, in which government seems only to serve the interests of the King and the aristocracy. Taxation, as a primary example, allows hereditary rulers, who are inherently removed from the interests of the industrious people they govern, to live off their subjects without contributing anything of substance to the society or the polis. Paine insists that the province of government is not to regulate the lives of the citizens; instead, it must create and protect an arena where free competition in the marketplace will allow people to pursue their own best interests. With a minimum of government, civil society, Paine believes, can administer itself. In one of his most clever lines, Paine says that if an American government can only see to the protection of its own economy and exports, it will flourish "and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe".

The impetus for "Common Sense" is the current of thought that suggested reconciliation with Britain is preferable to independence. In an American public sphere anxious about its relationship to Britain, Paine provides encouragement to debate and discussion with all the subtlety of a street-corner millennarian. Citing the inevitability of a split between the colonies and Britain, and emphasizing that the legacy of America is at stake in the choices of the present moment, Paine calls the drive to independence "the cause of all mankind". In persuasive and urgent, nearly prophetic language, Paine makes a case for the political, economic, and historical implications of American independence.

Of course, "Common Sense" is not without its problems. Paine's discussion of natural and artificial distinctions within society and government is problematic at its intersections with gender and race. Paine's strange thematic of government and prostitution reflects 18th century gender standards; and he never seems comfortable with the issues of African slavery in America or the 'problem' of Native Americans. In this context, it is easy to see, in Paine's assessment of whether independence should be pursued now or later, a prefigurement of the political and economic bases of the American Civil War. Isaac Kramnick's extensive and exhaustive introduction to this Penguin Classics edition of "Common Sense," though nearly 30 years old, sets Paine's achievement in firm and understandable contexts of its philosophical, historical, and biographical origins. An excellent edition of a work that every American, if not everyone, owes it to themselves to read.

Writing a review for this book is a lot like writing a review for The Constitution. It seems as though there are not enough words to describe the majesty of the document.

Many of the founding fathers lacked the educational training that contemporary politicains have received. With that fact in mind, Common Sense is even more potent. Thomas Paine sought to make his fellow colonists join in rebelling against the King and the British. His argument is based in the relative absurdity of being ruled by a king whose power is gained only because of the status of his parents. Even the first king in succession probably only gained his power by being the most brutal ruffian in his gang of conquerers. For those who suggest that the relationship with Britain need not be changed because "it is not broke, so don't fix it", he uses a child that nurses too long from his mother as a metaphor. Paine continues his writing with other choice prose to rationalize independence.

Paine's words were a biting commentary against the King. Even today, these words maintain their potency. No America should live without reading this book which was the reasoning for our break from Britain.

This was a required reading for a graduate humanities class. John Keane's biography succinctly showed that Tom Paine (1737-1809) was the consummate revolutionary and a daring adventurer. Not only was he an important figure in the American Revolution, but he also traveled to France in 1791 to give that revolution a push. Paine traveled from England, just in time to stoke the flames of the revolution with his pamphlet Common Sense, in January 1776. To call Common Sense a sensation in the colonies is actually a bit of an understatement. It was an unparallel sensation and monumental work of Enlightenment rhetoric that quickly fanned the flames of rebellion throughout the colonies. In four months, over 120,000 copies were printed in the colonies--over 500,000 copies by years end. No other pamphlet printed in seventeenth century America came close to its success. Most importantly, Common Sense served to get the colonial patriots to drop their fear of open rebellion, and also emboldened those delegates who favored declaring independence from Britain. The delegates now had the confidence that a large segment of the colonists would support rebellion. Similar to the Declaration of Independence, the philosophical ideas in Common Sense are primarily from the English philosopher, John Locke (1632-1704). The most moving quote from the pamphlet became quite prophetic, when one considers the impact it ultimately had on the delegates in the congress, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, and on the world. "We have it in our power to begin the world over again."

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I heartily recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history.