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The basis of Enlightenment thinker Thomas Paine’s arguments in Common Sense is the independence of America from British rule. His first argument has to do with the monarchical rule and the choice of Kings being based on hereditary succession. Paine thought it was wrong that the rulers of the British inherited their power rather than gaining it by being chosen by the people. Paine stated, “All men being original equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever, and though himself might deserve some decent degree of honors of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them”, (Paine 96-97). Paine mentions that all of mankind is born equal, but naturally become unequal as their lives progress. People who are hardworking and those who are not will become unequal. This funnels into his argument that the role of being King should not be inherited, they acquire this role simply because their father was a King.
Paine’s other argument is that being under British rule is preventing America from growing and flourishing. Paine argued with those who thought America should stay under British rule because of the former connection to Great Britain's rule and the flourishment that came along with it, “Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty.”, (Paine 98). By this, Paine means that just because America has been under the British rule and though there may have been “good” times, there is no reason that this makes America unable to grow independent. His opinion is that America is fully ready to be independent and that the British rule shall end sooner or later.
Paine justifies rebelling against the British by stating that the King will always prevent America from growing to become its full potential in fear that America will become too powerful. Paine stressed that a proper government for America is a natural right, “A government of our own is our natural right”, (Paine 100). Britain did not put in time to govern America properly. This was preventing America from getting the legislation and government that was based on the needs and necessities of America itself and the people who lived there.
According to Pain, the American colonists will benefit in many ways when finally, independent from the British rule. When independent from the British America would finally have a chance to have a proper government that was not based upon a monarchial rule. People would earn their roles as government officials, not be born into the role. Paine was very against the selection of a King based on heredity, “One of strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.”, (Paine 97). America being independent would be safer for those living there. Paine explains that America’s connection to Britain has caused them to have enemies for reasons that are not America’s own. “We have boasted the protection of Great Britain, without considering, that her motive was interest, not attachment; and that she did not protect us from out enemies on our account; but from her enemies from her account, from those who had no quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be out enemies on the same account,”, (Paine 98).
Of all of Thomas Paine’s arguments, I find his argument about monarchy and hereditary succession the most convincing. Everyone is born equal, as Paine said, no one should be able to be a king/ruler solely based on who their family is. This does not guarantee that this person is qualified to rule a country or has the best interest of the people who live there. Enabling this type of ruling to happen only creates oppression and severe inequality throughout the people. Paine expressed mankind was created in an equal state and that inequality and oppression were created by circumstances that were being encountered, “Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality could on be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor, maybe in a great measure be accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh ill sounding names of oppression and avarice.”, (Paine 96). Everyone should be looked at as an equal, not as a “subject” or a “king”. A king is supposed to thrive off doing right by their people and country, but obviously, this was not the case. Thomas Paine made many valid arguments, but this is the one that I found most convincing.
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