Hello and welcome to Classically Speaking! Today’s Commons Sense quote (the 4th in the series).
In 1772, Thomas Paine was fired from his job in England after publishing a piece supporting the reform of his position as an excise officer. He separated from his wife, sold his property, and sailed to America. Arriving in 1774, and with the help of a letter of introduction from Benjamin Franklin, Paine found work as a journalist in Philadelphia.
In 1775, he published African Slavery in America, attacking international slave trade, including the colonies, as a violation of Christian principles answerable to “the final judge.“
In his 47-page pamphlet entitled Common Sense, Thomas Paine reframed the problem the colonists were having with the actions of Parliament, in the form of the Stamp Act of 1765— as the problem with the nature of monarchy and the divine right of kings. The king reigned. The people obeyed.
The popularity of Common Sense was instantaneous and enormous. Published on January 10, 1776, it sold an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 copies in its first year. It was loaned, borrowed, and read aloud for the illiterate. — “Simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense” resonated with the American people.
Whether it be the struggle to obtain freedom and independence, or the struggle to keep it, the stakes are the same— To be ruled, to be enslaved, to be property— Or to be free to live life your own way.
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