What was the purpose of Thomas Pain's Common Sense?

Answer 1

~Whose purpose?

Paine had never set foot in the colonies until November 1774, less than 6 months before Lexington and Concord and well after the seeds of war had been sown. He basically spent his first six weeks in Philadelphia in a sickbed. He had no life experience in the Colonies under Parliamentary rule to speak of. Consequently, he had no direct knowledge of the circumstances in the colonies or the relationship between Mother Britain and her wayward North American children. He relied heavily on what he was spoon-fed by his new pals, such as Ben Franklin. That didn't stop him from writing, though, and Franklin and company were only too willing to feed him things to say. Truth and fact were never considerations.

Paine was not writing to convince people to start a war with the mother country. That deed had been done ten months before he published. He was trying help his friends to keep their war alive.

The so-called Revolution (it was, after all, a civil war and NOT a revolution) was never condoned by a majority of the colonials. At most, only 1/3 of the colonials ever favored the war or independence, 1/3 remained loyal and 1/3 sat the fence. Common Sense was a propaganda tract designed by the traitorous third to elicit support for their cause and fodder for the cannon. Published first in February, 1776, it was intended to garner support for the coming declaration of independence by the Second Continental Congress and to soften the blow of so treasonous an act. It paved the way for the Lee Resolution, by which the congress declared independence on July 2, 1776.

Paine had been a failure at pretty much everything he had attempted in life, from the time he was thrown out of school through the time his father let him go as an apprentice because he couldn't handle the work, to his failure as a sailor, to the times he was fired, twice, as a British tax collector to his failures as a soldier in the Continental Army. He did have a way with words though. For him, Common Sense was vehicle by which to make money, to survive and to remain in the good graces of his newfound friends and patrons, the Colonial rebels. It became a best seller, earned him an international reputation and made him a bundle. In that respect, it was a personal success. For the rebels, his writing was used to solicit support, money and manpower - much the way Hitler used Goebbels or the Soviets used Pravda or the USA used Radio Free Europe. It is given great credit for fanning the flames and keeping the war going and for building support for the Lee Resolution. In that respect, it was a success for the cause.

Paine wasn't that great a believer in American liberty and he didn't stick around long to see what his writings had wrought. As soon as the war was over and he could do so without being hung, Paine returned to England. His writing there forced him to move to France, a step or two ahead of the sheriff and a warrant for his arrest. Once in France, his writing earned him a date with the guillotine. He was saved from that one by dumb luck and later by the intervention of James Monroe. He scooted back to New York, where he died pretty much alone and despised.

Based on his life and what he did with it, if you judge him by his actions and not by his words, Common Sense appears to have been little more than a commercial enterprise for the author. His sponsors, on the other hand, needed pamphlets like Paine's and others to get their cause off the ground and generate the support they so sorely lacked so as to keep it alive. (That goes for the Crisis series as well: Those were the times that tried men's souls, after all.) Had he been caught and tried, the purpose of Common Sense to the Crown Prosecutor would have been to convict him of treason and to put a noose around his neck.

It is a well written piece. If you haven't done so, read it. But when you get to where he says
"As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but right that we should examine the contrary side of the argument, and enquire into some of the many material injuries which these Colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with and dependent on Great Britain. To examine that connection and dependence, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependent."
bear in mind that he had no first hand knowledge of the "material injuries" of which he wrote and when he said
"But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families."
he was only spouting the party line. Then again, that is the nature of propaganda.

Answer 2

Purpose Of Common Sense

Answer 3

to try to tell people that it was common sense to start a war with britain and gain independence

Answer 4

to encourage the colonies to go to war with great britian