Thomas Paine During the Revolutionary War

During the Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet, Common Sense, that encouraged the colonists to declare independence. He stated that monarchy was a bad form of government and that American colonies should try to obtain independence from England. While reading the pamphlet, Common Sense, Thomas Paine showed enough evidence that supported his argument to convince me. As I continued reading, I perceived that Thomas Paine had also included some of John Locke’s ideas into his pamphlet.

John Locke’s Contract Theory of Government had a huge influence in the writing of Common Sense. In the Contract Theory of Government, Locke states that humans are born in a natural state, that communities form over, and that they have three natural rights which are life, liberty, and estate. One of John Locke’s ideas that influenced Thomas Paine, was the idea that everyone is free to do what they want if it’s within the idea of “law of nature.” Evidence from Common Sense that would support Locke’s idea is when he says that “Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness.” In this quote, Thomas Paine is trying to convince the colonists to fight for their freedom from England. He believed that in order to survive, they needed to cut ties with England. Thomas Paine also agreed with John Locke’s idea that claimed that all people were free and equal which went against the statement that God had made all people under the rule of a monarch. In Common Sense, Thomas Paine says that “all men being originally equals” and that “no one by birth could have the right to set up his own family.” This quote proves to say that all humans are born with natural rights and that we are all equal. This quote also goes on by insulting the monarch government by saying that one might “deserve some decent degree of hours” but their “descendants might be too far too unworthy to inherit them.” This quote shows that Thomas Paine, who sees monarchy as a joke, doesn’t agree with being under a rule of a monarch.

After the Revolutionary War, American colonist had multiple issues with the British Government. One major issue was that Britain wanted to control expansion into the western colonies. The king agreed to a Proclamation Line which prohibited settlements past the Appalachian Mountains. This angered and upset the American colonists because those who had already settled on lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains