Common Sense
Paving the Way to Independence
Standard
SS8H3 The student will
analyze the role of
Georgia in the American
Revolution.
Standard
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a. Explain the immediate and long-term
causes of the American Revolution and
their
impact on Georgia; include the French
and Indian War (i.e., Seven Years War),
Proclamation of 1763, Stamp Act,
Intolerable Acts, and the Declaration of
Independence.
Enduring Understanding
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Governance: The student will understand
that as a society increases in complexity and
interacts with other societies, the
complexity of the government also
increases.
Essential Questions
What was the impact of Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense?
What are the key components of the
Declaration of Independence?
Thomas Paine
Met Ben Franklin in 1774; Ben helped
Paine emigrate to Philadelphia
Became an editor in Philadelphia just as the force of
the resistance movement gained national focus.
Wrote newspaper articles on abolition, women’s
rights, dueling, titles, and the freedom of British India
before he wrote on the American Revolution.
Thomas Paine
Of all the writers of the American
Revolution, he was the least American in
background.
His cause was not America; it was
revolution!
Common Sense
Paine published the
pamphlet in Jan 1776
Sold 1/2 million copies
Written in a simple style
so ALL colonists could
understand it.
Common Sense
Urged for separation from Britain
Argued that citizens, not monarchs,
should make laws
Argued for economic freedom and right
to military self-defense
Cried out against tyranny
Common Sense
Independence, he said, was inevitable.
The only question was how independence
would come “by the legal voice of the
people in Congress; by a military power;
or by a mob.”
Common Sense
Warned conservatives that if
independence did not come, uprising
would finally sweep away the liberties of
the continent like a flood.
“Ye that oppose independence now, ye
know not what ye do: ye are opening a
door to eternal tyranny.”
Main Points
This is a very important issue that will affect all future
generations.
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…The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. “Tis
not the affair of a city, a province, or a kingdom, but of a
continent of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe.
“Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity
are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or
less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings
now.
Main Points
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Congress is unable or unwilling to make
a decision.
Thomas Paine wrote “Common Sense” to
speak out about the indecision of Congress.
This document was written to call people to
action in a sense and to move Congress to
make a final break from the tyranny of
Britain.
Main Points
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The colonists have done well for
themselves and do not need help from
Britain.
Not a single advantage will come from
being connected to Great Britain.
“I challenge the warmest advocate for
reconciliation to show, a single advantage that
this continent can reap, by being connected with
Great Britain.”
Main Points
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The colonists must pull
together and stand firm.
“Now is the seedtime of
continental union, faith, and
honor.”
Main Points
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THERE IS NO GOING BACK
AFTER BLOOD HAS BEEN SPILT.
Any attempts to work with Great Britain
before the “nineteenth of April, i.e., to the
commencement of hostilities, are…useless
now…” “The blood of the slain, the
weeping voice of nature cries, ‘tis time to
part.”
Impact
Many colonial leaders agreed with Paine.
2nd Continental Congress created a
committee in June 1776 to draft a
document declaring independence.