Thomas Paine Declaration Of Independence Analysis

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According to Thomas Paine in Common Sense, the colonies should break away from Great Britain and declare their independence because they do not need a king, they cannot go on being England’s doormat, and there is no room left for reconciliation. Paine argues against the opinions of those who think a war for independence would be a mistake by addressing issues such as the king’s divinity, Britain’s motherhood, and the British Navy’s power. The colonists should break away from England because there is no chance for reconciliation. Paine speaks of how men with passive tempers hope to become “friends” once again with England. Paine questions the motives of their cowardice by asking, “But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then …show more content…
Hath your property been destroyed…If you have not, then you are a judge of those who have. But if you have and can still shake hands with the murderers, then you are unworthy the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward and the spirit of a sycophant.” The fight has begun, there is no turning back now, no turning a blind eye. Reconciliation with England should not be required of the colonies just because Britain is their motherland. Paine says, “The first king of England, of the present line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman…by the same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France.” The juvenile state of the colonies would be supportive of a war for independence because the country is still small and developing. It would be easier to unite the colonies at their present state given the controversy over whether or not they should declare independence from Great Britain. United, the colonies could stop the cycle of being England’s doormat. No longer would they have to tolerate the king dictating what laws would or would not be made. America would not have the opportunity to be a secondary …show more content…
Kings twisted the records around showing them as the next successors, Paine argues, their action have no divinity. Another argument presented as to why some think a war for independence would be a mistake is the notion that Britain is their mother country; they thrive and are protected under her reign. Paine cleverly argues, “Just because a child had thrived on its mother’s milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty.” The comparison is made that, “even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families,” which the British waging wars and putting into effect the Intolerable Acts of 1774 is similar to. If this is the true mother country, it is a “bad” mother, she is attacking her own child. America is too diverse to have one mother country, not all are of English descent, by this logic some would be following the rules of France. One of the bigger concerns was the British Navy. The British Navy was the largest and most powerful in the world at
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