journal 2 - fdamf

How do Thomas Paines Common Sense and Thomas Jeffersons Declaration of Independence move the colonies and colonists toward independence from England?

To paraphrase the readings: Thomas Paine first published Common Sense in January of 1776. His plea for America to separate itself from England was widely read by the colonists. Even Washington agreed that it wrought a powerful change on the minds of the colonists and had great impact on the movement toward independence. Paine ridiculed the idea that a continent ought to be governed by an island, referred to the king as a royal brute, and concluded simply that tis time to part. His argument that common tradesmen, mechanics, and farmers were as capable of governing as hereditary monarchs set the common man on an equal footing with the political elite. His indictment of the King turned the colonists anger away from parliament, and instead to the monarch and made them all traitors to the crown. After Paines writing of Common Sense, the mood in the colonies turned even more decidedly away from conciliation with England and toward independence. Basically, Paine was saying that the king couldnt rule America, because he was so far away. It was time that the colonists did their own governing. He said the common man was just as good as a king and his lineage, making everybody the same status as a king. The colonists saw this was true, and decided to fight for their independence and freedom.

To paraphrase the reading: On June 7, 1776, Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence. He begins with two paragraphs to declare independence and explain why such a step was necessary. In the middle section of the Declaration Jefferson provided specific evidence of Englands violation of the unalienable rights of the colonists. If this section is read carefully, it is possible to see the history of the declining relationship between England and the colonies between 1763 and 1776. Jefferson, like Paine, chooses to focus the reasons of the worsening relationship on the King, not Parliament. Finally, Jefferson concludes by restating the purpose of the Declaration and demonstrating the commitment of the signers to the cause of independence. Jefferson later said that his purpose in writing the Declaration was not to create something entirely new, but to put down on paper the mind and will of the American people. That was why so many of the words and phrases included in the Declaration were also found in the writings of others. Basically, Jefferson was just trying to show the King that the people were ready to be their own people. He was trying to show why they deserved freedom, why they deserved to be separated, and why they deserved to be happy. The words of the Declaration were of the people, not a governing body. They were the words of those who wanted to the change for the better good.