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Common Sense by Thomas Paine

The most formidable weapons against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall." These famous words, uttered by Thomas Paine, ring true in his essay, Common Sense, an argumentative paper urging separation of America from Britain. Paine dedicated a large portion of his life and even more of his energy and time towards the American Revolution and became a leading figure of freedom and independence. A strong example of this is his work Common Sense in which he filled with numerous reasons as to why a separation of America from England was necessary to ensure America's success as a nation. In his work, he details many different reasons as to why the division is so essential, the most significant being Britain's own selfish interests in maintaining the colonies, the already existent tensions between the British and Americans, the increasing numbers of non-British colonists and the lack of political and economic opportunities with other countries.

One of Paine's strongest arguments is that of Britain's own selfish intentions in maintaining their control of the colonies. Although it is plain as day when reading any modern textbook, the concept of mercantilism was not as thoroughly understood by all the colonists. In Common Sense, Paine makes Britain's mercantilist strikingly obvious. "...her motive was interest, not attachment," Paine presents the obvious argument that Britain is making more profit bleeding the colonies of their gold and natural resources then they are in any other trade or endeavor of their own. Through their system of low imports and high exports to and from the colonies, they managed to make huge sums of money from the colonies, which, in exchange for they offered military "protection" and security. Even this ended up costing the American's money as they ended up paying Britain's war bills through ridiculously high taxes on common items. Without being attached to Britain, Paine argued, America had a chance to break out of the mercantilist policy and begin to make the profits that it deserved from its undertakings.

As well as the mercantilist policy weighing down on the American spirit, so did the ever present tensions between the colonists. Paine realized and argued, among many other colonists, that the tension between the British soldiers and officials living in the colonies and the Americans was beyond reconciliation. Beginning with the Boston Massacre, both sides became hostile and angry; Paine realizes this himself and acknowledges April 19th, 1775 as the day that the split between the two became unavoidable. "All plans, proposals and c. prior to the nineteenth of April...are superseded and useless now." Common Sense, although written after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, still show Paine's desire for a clean break from England. Paine puts forth this argument to avoid a long, bloody and devastating war; split now and avoid the financial, social and political consequences. Unfortunately, his desires were not met. 

In addition to the pressures on the colonists, Paine also covers the important aspect of the colonies changing ethnic background. Paine realized the importance of the increasing diversity of America and the decreasing number of true British living in the colonies. He recognized the importance that the emigrants had on the British control of the colonies; the more non-English living in America, the less control England had on the inhabitants. "Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this province, are of English decent." Paine uses this fact to argue that Britain's claim to have "parented" America was "false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous" and believes that every nation represented in the colonists have a right to take part in their economic and diplomatic affairs. It is to Paine's advantage that Britain made such a big deal out of "parenting" America or this argument would not be nearly as relevant or convincing.

Finally, Paine realized that in order for America to ever succeed as an independent nation, free of Britain's grasp, it would need to be able to financially support itself. Paine also realized that in order to do this, America would need to shed itself of Britain's already existing political ties in order to develop its own. France and Spain were very important potential trading partners and political allies to the Americas because of their shared inhabitance of the North American; however, America could never trade with either country because of their relations with Britain. Without Britain to stop them, the Americas could prosper even more than they already had. "France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be, our enemies as Americans, but as our being the subjects of Great Britain." It is because of this lack of success because of Britain that Paine argues that a separation is the only fair option for the Americas, without one, they will be unable to ever fulfill their potential. 

Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, is a well reasoned and thought-out essay that very eloquently explains why a separation is necessary between America and Britain. Paine argues that in order for America to ever be truly successful or live up to its potential it cannot be trapped under Britain's tyrannical grip. Paine argues that America needs to break away for numerous reasons including Britain's selfish mercantilist policies, the already existing strains between the colonists and the British, the large numbers of non-British colonists and the growth opportunities that America was offered, sans-Britain. Paine very reasonably argued that a separation was the only way for America to ever survive as a colony. His argument, although not as smoothly as he may have wished, proved true and he is now regarded as one of the Founding Father's of this great nation.

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