29 pages • 58 minutes read
Common Sense
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Index of Terms
Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain—referred to by Paine simply as “Britain” or “England”—in 1775 centered on the island of Great Britain, which includes England, Scotland, and Wales; it also ruled Ireland, the American and Canadian colonies in North America, much of the Indian subcontinent, and elsewhere. At the time of Common Sense’s publication, the monarch was King George III, who ruled with the help of a House of Lords, made up of noblemen, and a Parliament, an assembly of commoners.
Britain developed 13 colonies along the eastern seaboard of North America, from Georgia in the south to Massachusetts (including a large area that later became the state of Maine) in the north. Britain’s victories over France, in a war conducted between 1754 and 1763, won it the French territories west and north of the British colonies. To pay for the war, Britain levied new taxes on its American colonists, leading to a spat that spilled over into armed rebellion. Common Sense was the chief published argument for America’s revolution, which lasted from 1775 to 1783, when, under the Treaty of Paris, Britain recognized the United States. For decades thereafter, American-British relations were touchy, but the two countries eventually reconciled and have been close allies since the early 20th century.
Colonies
The 13 American colonies were territories of Britain in eastern North America from the late 1500s until 1783. Varied in climate, resources, and people, the colonies grew closer during battles against nearby French colonies in the 1750s and 1760s. Armed with newfound confidence, they petitioned the British crown over grievances concerning taxation and other unfair treatment. Britain generally refused to parlay, and the colonies finally took their argument to the battlefield, winning independence after a six-year war. Paine refers often to “the colonies,” interchanging that term with “America” and “the continent”; he never uses the term “colonist,” however, perhaps to avoid the idea that his readers remain subjects of the British crown.
Continent
Paine often refers to the “continent”; this means “America” or “the colonies,” but it also hints at the sheer size of the colonial project and the rich lands to the west that might form part of the new nation.
England
England—a name Paine uses as an alternate for “Britain”—dominated British affairs from its capital, London, and often is conflated with the larger nation of which it is a part. (See “Britain,” above.)
Hereditary Monarchy
Hereditary monarchy is when kings pass their power to their children. Hereditary monarchies sometimes evolve out of the leadership of a popular and competent man who then vests his office onto his children, but more often such regimes descend from an original “ruffian” who imposes his will upon a country and keeps that power for his heirs. Paine believes the effect of such a pattern, over time, is to install arrogant, isolated, ill-informed, and incompetent men in positions of stewardship. Paine argues adamantly for a republican form of government, in which the people select their leaders.
Independence
Freedom, or liberty, or independence, is the chief desire of Paine and his fellow rebels. Freedom and liberty mean the right of individuals to make their own choices instead of having those choices made for them by kings or other authorities. Paine believes that liberty is a God-given natural right that belongs to everyone from birth. He also believes that arbitrary rule by a king is a usurpation of that right, and that a people must rise up if they can and shake off oppression. Independence refers to the freedom of a nation to make its own choices, much as individuals do, and, for America, independence means liberation from Britain and a place among the world of nations.
Republic
A republic is a government of the elected representatives of a people. A republic is Paine’s choice as an alternative to kingly rule, especially the rule of King George III and his British government. Paine believes such a government should have a wide number of delegates who hail from every section of a state or nation and who stand frequently for election and sit periodically to decide on the course of their nation. Paine touts a free and independent republican government for America as the remedy to the troubles it suffers under its British overlords.
Unlock all 29 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Thomas Paine
