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GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government
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GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government

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Common Sense 17568 Views


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Description:

Ever notice how common sense is usually not...common? Sometimes you just need somebody to come along, write a world-changing pamphlet, and knock some common sense into you.

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Transcript

00:07

Common Sense: Oh, if only it were... common.

00:12

Every once in a while, a piece of literature does more than just inform or entertain...

00:16

...it changes the world.

00:19

Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species made people look at evolution in a different light.

00:25

Mein Kampf certainly shook things up during Hitler's reign.

00:31

And Everyone Poops changed the way toddlers look at defecation.

00:37

Well, back in colonial America, it was Thomas Paine's

00:40

Common Sense that turned everything on its head.

00:43

So who was this Paine?

00:45

Well, he was actually English born...

00:47

...a son of a Quaker.

00:50

Paine immigrated to America with the help of Benjamin Franklin,

00:53

who was impressed by the man's ideas.

00:57

Once he had set up shop overseas, Paine became a journalist and propagandist.

01:00

Although he probably didn't put all of that on his business card.

01:04

So Paine decided to write a pamphlet

01:06

that would communicate his personal desire for American independence.

01:11

As you might guess, the British weren't exactly banging down his door to grant him

01:14

an ambassadorship. His pamphlet, Common Sense called for independence

01:20

for the American colonists from the British Monarchy.

01:23

It defined "Society" and "Government." Sure, someone could have picked up a dictionary...

01:28

...but Paine had some different ideas about what they should mean.

01:32

And spoke of the pursuit of life, liberty and property.

01:35

Okay, so "property" would later get changed to "the pursuit of happiness," but hey

01:39

-- printing companies charged by the word back then.

01:43

Paine argued in his pamphlet that a Republican Democracy is the only suitable government.

01:47

He laid into the British, insisting that they entrust far too much authority to their monarchs.

01:54

And pointed out the unnatural distinction between a king and a subject...

01:57

...because all men are created equal.

02:03

The pamphlet closed with a call to action...

02:06

...urging the colonists to declare their independence from British rule.

02:09

In other words, ideas were one thing...

02:11

...but if they really wanted to be large and in charge, the American people were going

02:15

to have to stick their necks out a little.

02:19

Paine was successful in getting his point across

02:21

because of his use of a number of rhetorical techniques.

02:24

To recap:

02:25

Gave new meaning to certain terms and phrases we still use today.

02:29

Overturned a common assumption -- that the distinction between "king" and "subject"

02:33

is an unnatural one,

02:35

And ended with a call to action. Pretty clever guy, huh?

02:40

Anyway, Common Sense went over pretty well.

02:43

In fact, it did exactly what Paine hoped it would do...

02:46

...and was largely responsible for the Revolutionary War.

02:50

This guy could have persuaded Cousin It to get a haircut.

02:55

Once the war was over, Paine returned to England and tried to incite revolution in his native country.

03:00

...this time with a book called Rights of Man.

03:03

Jeez, what a rabble-rouser.

03:04

Remind us not to invite him to any of our dinner parties.

03:09

He was eventually kicked out of England for his radical ideas...

03:12

...and later moved to France, where he wrote Age of Reason... while in prison.

03:18

We have a feeling this guy's middle name might have actually been trouble.

03:23

After trying to incite reform in England and France,

03:26

Paine would finally die a penniless drunk in Manhattan.

03:29

A sad finale for someone who contributed so much to American freedom...

03:33

...but at least Captain Trouble stayed true to himself to the end.

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