Mr. Cadenhead - 7th Grade Social Studiesp. 1 of 2
Common Sense PART 2 – Write a letter to Thomas Paine (counts as two homework grades)
This article contains the following “tier 2” vocabulary words:
- Pounds: English money
- Corrupt: Evil and dishonest
- Nature: the physical world and everything in it (such as plants, animals, mountains, oceans, stars, etc.) that is not made by people
Directions: Read this article.
Then answer all the questions that follow
Thomas Paine was born in England. He was the son of uneducated English farmers.
In 1772, he met Benjamin Franklin who was visiting England. Franklin liked Thomas Paine’s ideas’ about freedom and liberty and convinced Paine to move to America. Paine arrived in Philadelphia it November of 1774 and quickly made his mark on American politics. In January of 1776 he published a famous booklet called “Common Sense”. Thisbookletwas veryimportanttoAmerica’sindependencebecauseitexplainedinsimpletermswhyindependencewassuchagoodthingandwhy stayingconnectedtothe King of England was so bad for America. Many people living in America had never heard these ideas before and “CommonSense” helpedthemputintowordstheir own feelingsaboutfreedom. The booklet also had a big influence on the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Common Sense would quickly become the top selling publication of the 18th century. The following document is an adaptation of the original document written by Thomas Paine.
An Adaptation of Common Sense by Thomas Paine(Adapted by Mr. Cadenhead from “Common Sense : CCSS Close Reading Activity” by History Plus)
People should not be ruled by “hereditary” kings: There are lots of evil things about a system of governmentwhere a king rules over people and where the king’s children willalways rule after the king is dead. First, it makes regular people worth lessto place someone above them. Second, you are always going tobe stuck with the king’s kids. We know that all men are equal at birth,so nobody has the right to say their family as better thanyours forever. Even if the current king is a good ruler, there isno guarantee that his children will be able to rule as well as hehas. Nature has proven that the biggest problem with peoplebeing born into royal families is that you frequently get rulerwho is actually worthless.
The King isn’t worth the money he is paid: In England, a king doesn’t have much to do except start warsand give land away to his friends, which only results in acountry getting poorer. It’s a pretty simple job for someonewho is paid close to 800,000 pounds a year, especially whenhe’s getting worshipped at the same time! Does it make sense that we should we spend our tax dollars to make the king rich? One honest person isworth more to the world that all the kings who have ever lived.
Why should America get involved in England’s wars? Europe is so crowded with countries that it is never at peace forvery long, and whenever a war breaks out in England; our tradeis interrupted here in the colonies, just because we are connectedto Britain. Think about the French and Indian War; should America fight a war with France just because England wants us to? Separating fromEngland is the only responsible thing to do. Everyone who hasdied in a war that England started is screaming to us from theirgrave, “Be free from England!” Even God wants us to be free,which is why he put the Atlantic Ocean between the colonies and England! We are already naturally separated. God meant thisland to be a safe place for people seeking freedom frompersecution, just like the Pilgrims, Catholics, Jews andPuritans. And we must be free so that it can be a safe place forfuture generations of people.
We are bigger than England, so why should they rule us? Small islands, like Great Britain, are supposed to be ruled overby larger countries. There is something really wrong with thefact that the tiny island of Great Britain rules over the muchlarger colonies of America. There is no example in the entirenatural world of a larger something being controlled by asmaller something. It would be like the Earth revolving aroundthe moon! Having a tiny island rule a huge continent is goingagainst nature! We also live on totally different continents, sowhy does England rule us? Do lions hunt whales? No, they livein different places!
The King is the enemy of Freedom: King George has already proved that he is the enemy of freedom bypassing unfair taxes and laws, so many that it seems he hasactually gone mad with power. He has literally said, “You can’tmake any laws that I don’t like.” Everyone knows that this is unfair, so we have to separate!
How would you like to be ruled by a two year old king? Another bad thing about kings being born kings is that therearen’t any age requirements. You could have a two-year oldking! When this happens, there is usually someone older who rules till the king is old enough, but thisperson can be as corrupt as he wants because the only personwho can fire him is the king!
Freedom from England will help America make more money through trade: Because there are so many problems that have come aboutbecause we are connected with England, it is our duty as goodpeople to get our freedom! Because we are currently dependenton Britain for protection and trade, we get mixed-up in warsand fights with other European countries that they are at warwith. This prevents us from making new friends with othercountries, and puts us at odds with countries that we don’thave a problem with! We could trade with all of Europe if wewanted, so it is in our best interest not to get involved withfights or wars if we can help it so we can make money throughtrade. We have never been able to do this because of England.
We have enough manpower to defeat England: Our greatest strength is not the number of soldiers we have, butthe colonies coming together! Even so, we have more thanenough me to fight back any invading army. We in the colonieshave the largest group of armed and trained me on the planetwhen we unite. No single colony could stand up to England byitself, but if we unite, we’ll have all the soldiers we need!
1 / The word “hereditary” (line 1) most likely means… / 2 / What idea is introduced in lines 15-22 of An Adaptation of Common Sense by Thomas Paine? / a disease that is passed from mother to child / / America should go to war with England
/ holding a position or title that was passed down from a parent or older relative / / America should not become involved in other people’s fights
/ A European / / Most wars are not worth fighting
/ An American / / Fighting in wars has made America stronger
3 / How do lines 24 through 29 reflect a central idea of An Adaptation of Common Sense by Thomas Paine? / 4 / Which of the following would be an example of one of the Problems Thomas Paine warns about in Common Sense?
/ By suggesting that the king does not listen to reason / / Areligious conflict between Protestants and Catholics
/ By arguing that America has always been a free country / / Was a peaceful transition from one king to another
/ By suggesting that the current system of government unnatural / / A war between the English and Spanish colonies in North America
/ By encouraging Americans to defeat racism / / A decision by the king to lower taxes on the colonies
- Short Response Question #1: Give two reasons why Thomas Paine argues that it makes good economic (money) sense for America to separate from England
- Short Response Question #2: Why did Thomas Paine argue that both “God” and “nature” supportedAmerica’s separation from England?
Weekend Homework: Who did “Common Sense” leave in and who did it leave out?
Write two letters to Thomas Paine from telling him what you like (or don’t like) about his famous pamphlet Common Sense. Send your letters from point of view of two of the following people: An American woman; An American Slave; The King of England; General George Washington; Alexander Hamilton
Use four or more of the following words/phrases in each of your letters: Nature; pounds, corrupt; enlightenment; trade; plantation; liberty; Common Sense; Revolutionary War; hereditary; manpower; abolition; women’s rights; taxation-without-representation; King George III, independence
Or… write one rap poem to Thomas Paine using four or more of the above vocabulary words*** Must be at least one page long and you must be willing to perform it for the class ***