writings of thomas paine coursework

It is plain that you brought over with you all the narrow notions you were bred up with, and imagined that a proclamation in the king’s name was to do great things; but Englishmen always travel for knowledge, and your lordship, I hope, will return, if you return at all, much wiser than you came. And as one of the public, under the well known signature of Common Sense, I humbly conceive, that the Congress have done that which as a faithful body of He introduced himself to General Maxwell at Elizabeth-Town, as knowing Mr. Arthur Lee; the General wrote a letter of information to Col. R. H. Lee who presented the same to Congress. Mr. Our union, well and wisely regulated and cemented, is the cheapest way of being great—the easiest way of being powerful, and the happiest invention in government which the circumstances of America can admit of.—Because it collects from each state, that which, by being inadequate, can be of no use to it, and forms an aggregate that serves for all. It matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that the lands when sold be applied to the discharge of it, and for the execution of which the Congress for the time being will be the continental trustees. I think of nothing but the destructive consequences of slavery. The English “Crisis” bears evidence throughout of having been written in London. Edition: current; Page: [53] Edition: current; Page: [390] Edition: current; Page: [270] By so doing, he endeavours to lead the public into a belief that his being heard on Monday was extorted purely in consequence of his Edition: current; Page: [265] The tale is told—The scene is ended—and the curtain falls. Miracle served to puzzle the senses. Ruralinda smiled, because she would smile, but in that smile was sorrow. If he retreats from Philadelphia, he will be despised; if he stays, he may be shut up and starved out, and the country, if he advances into it, may become his Saratoga. Even the provisions taken in that fortress (which by general Burgoyne’s return was sufficient in bread and flour for nearly 5000 men for ten weeks, and in beef and pork for the same number of men for one month) served only to hasten his overthrow, by enabling him to proceed to Saratoga, the It was given a place in the Postscript. These things being premised, I now proceed to review the latter part of Cato’s second letter. The number of Continental Troops was between 8 and 9000, besides Militia, the rest remaining as Guards for the security of Camp. A numerous body of Germans of property, zealots in the cause of freedom, were likewise excluded for non-allegiance. Are not the repeated declarations of congress, and which all America supports, that they will not even hear any proposals whatever, until the unconditional and unequivocal independence of America is recognised; are not, I say, these declarations answer enough? Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a Government, which we might expect in a country without Government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. I kept pretty high up the country, and being unwilling to ask questions, not knowing what company I might be in, I was there three days before I fell in with it. It is incompatible with that spirit which impels them into action. As a long and violent abuse of power is generally the means of calling the right of it in question, (and in matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry,) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his own right, to support the Parliament in what he calls Theirs, and as the good People of this Country are grievously oppressed by the Combination, they have an undoubted privilege to enquire into the so little effusion of blood, they stubbornly affected to disbelieve it till within an hour, nay, half an hour, of the prisoners arriving; and the Quakers put forth a testimony, dated the 20th of December, signed “John Pemberton,” declaring their attachment to the British government.∗ It is a substitute for a principle that is wanting and ever will be wanting till the idea of national honour be rightly understood. We looked on the business done—the conflict over—the matter settled—or that all which remained unfinished would follow of itself. But the Enemy either on the approach of McDougall, or on information of it, called in their Party, and the Expedition was frustrated. There was not, Sir, a work thrown up in it till Genl. While the enemy were in this situation, their security was increased by the captivity of General Lee, who was unfortunately taken in the rear of his army, December 13th, at Baskinridge by a party of light-horse, commanded by Col. Harcourt. The one went greedily into the passion of revenge, the other into the subtleties of low contrivance; till, between the crimes of both, there is scarcely left a man in America, be he whig or tory, who does not despise or detest the conduct of Britain. At one time it was, Lo here! Ask the man, who, with his axe, hath cleared a way in the wilderness, and now possesses an estate, what made him rich, and he will tell you the labor of his hands, the sweat of his brow, and the blessing of heaven. But who will begin the disagreeable talk? She gives no invitation to follow her to the cavern.—The external earth makes no proclamation of the interior stores, but leaves to chance and industry, the discovery of the whole. The man who is at home, can turn himself a thousand ways, and find as many means of ease, convenience or relief: but a soldier’s life admits of none of those: their wants cannot be supplied from themselves: for an army, though it is the defence of a state, is at the same time the child of a country, or must be provided for in every thing. Where is the man who can say the fault, in part, has not been his? This is a strange way, Cato, of overturning Common Sense, which says, “I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew a single advantage which this continent can reap by being connected with Great-Britain; I repeat,” says he, “the challenge: not a single advantage is derived. two twenty-gun ships, nay, says he, tenders of those ships, stationed between Albermarle sound and Chesapeake bay, would shut up the trade of America for, “Oh, that our poor fellows in the field had some of this!”. He might with great justice complain of Mr. Deane’s contracts with individuals; for we are fully sensible, that the gentlemen which have come from France since the arrival of Dr. Franklin and Mr. Lee in that country, are of a different rank to the generality of those with whom Mr. Deane contracted when alone. Edition: current; Page: [138] Degrading and famous as that motion was, there is nevertheless reason to believe that the king and his adherents were afraid the colonies would agree to it, and lest they should, took effectual care they should not, by provoking them with hostilities in the interim. I fear not the field of fair debate, but thou hast stepped aside and made it personal. In short, had you studied only the domestic politics of a family, you would have learned how to govern the state; but, instead of this easy and natural line, you flew out into every thing which was wild and outrageous, till, by following the passion and stupidity of the pilot, you wrecked the vessel within sight of the shore. of a peace,—not a union, Cato, that is quite another thing. Yet had she not been in debt at the beginning of the war, as we were not, and, like us, had only a land and not a naval war to carry on, her then revenue of eleven millions and a half pounds sterling would have defrayed all her annual expenses of war and government within each year. I’ll to him and relieve him. You had then greatly the advantage of her. He hath spread false alarms of calling in foreign troops. At Newark our little army was reinforced by Lord Sterling’s and Col. Hand’s brigades, which had been stationed at Brunswick. are at Mainheim, near Lancaster; I heard they were well a few days ago. Edition: current; Page: [333] It fortunately happened (and to no state in the union more than the state in question) that the terms of peace were agreed on before the opposition appeared, otherwise, there cannot be a doubt, that if the same idea of the diminished authority of America had occurred to them at that time as has occurred to them since, but they would have made the same grasp at the fisheries, as they have done at the carrying trade. Governed by sentiment, and acting her own mind, she becomes, as she pleases, the victor or the victim. What consolation can honour afford for such a disgrace?”. There appeared about that time some disposition in the I think fighting is Everything could be said to be a miracle. The glimmering light with which the sun feebly penetrated the clouds began to fail, till Egyptian darkness added to the horror. Edition: current; Page: [56] 7th, Whether such a man is not better dead than alive? In short, Independance is the only BOND that tye and keep us together. In Britain it is otherwise. He also had thoughts on the present state of American affairs. Since that time, congress have gone into a calculation, and have estimated the expenses of the war department and the civil list of congress (exclusive of the civil list of the several governments) at eight millions of dollars; and as the remaining million will be fully sufficient for the civil list of the several states, the two calculations are exceedingly near each other. Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. whose exemplary greatness, and universal liberality, have extorted a confession even from her enemies. Thus circumstanced, the nation Innovations are dangerous only as they shake the prejudices of a people; but there are now, I believe, but few prejudices to be found in this country, in favor of the old connection with Great-Britain. Nature, in the arrangement of mankind, has fitted some for every service in life: were all soldiers, all would starve and go naked, and were none soldiers, all would be slaves. Certainly not. Plain Truth is not a bad historian. My whole credit was staked upon going through with Deane’s affairs, and could I afterwards have written with the pen of an Angel, on any subject whatever, it would have had no effect, had I failed in that or declined proceeding in it. Rush recognized the injustice of Slavery he made no suggestion for its abolition. Uncontrolled power, in the hands of an incensed, imperious, and rapacious conqueror, is an engine of dreadful execution, and woe be to that country over which it can be exercised. The Enemy opened that day 2 two-gun Batteries, and a Mortar Battery, on the fort. He stars of by saying that when addressing the public he does not care if the subject is popular he just cares if it is right or wrong for what is right will become popular. Your expedition to Egg-Harbour, will be felt at a distance like an attack upon a hen-roost, and expose you in Europe, with a sort of childish phrenzy. The enemy, by his situation, is within our reach, and by his reduced strength is within our power. No one, I think, could have understood it any other wise, than that while we continue to call ourselves British Subjects, the quarrel between us can only be called a family quarrel, in which, it would be just as indelicate for any other nation to advise, or any ways to meddle or make, even with their offers of mediation, as it would be for a third person to interfere in a quarrel between a man and his wife. From the Pennsylvania Magazine, August, 1775.—Editor. But there is a point to view this matter in of superior consequence to the defence of property; and that point is Liberty in all its meanings. In this state of political suspense the pamphlet Common Sense made its appearance, and the success it met with does not become me to mention. He then began traducing and accusing America of every crime, which could injure her reputation. per annum, to be collected quarterly, be levied on all property. Cato, towards the conclusion of his third letter,(at which place I shall leave him for the present,) compares the state of Britain and America to the quarrels of lovers, and from thence infers a probability, that our affections will be renewed thereby. He was Governor of Jersey and defended it in 1779. A general promotion of sentiment took place: those who had drank deeply into whiggish principles, that is, the right and necessity not only of opposing, but wholly setting aside the power of the crown as soon as it became practically dangerous (for in theory it was always so), stepped into the first stage of independence; while another class of whigs, equally sound in principle, but not so sanguine in enterprise, attached themselves the stronger to the cause, and fell close in with the rear of the former; their partition was a mere point. On these resolutions I shall offer several remarks. The particular circumstance of a convention is undoubtedly Provincial, but the great business of the day is Continental. As to the proposed act for punishing the survivor, where one of the parties has fallen in the conflict, it is, indeed, a melancholy truth, that our laws in being have been found inadequate to the purpose of preventing duels by the dread of legal consequences. Dearly, dearly do we pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for, in a just estimation ‘tis as great a folly to pay a Bunker-hill price for law as for land. England would appear a wretch indeed, at this time of day, to ask or owe any thing to the bounty of America. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe; and our imported goods must be paid for, buy them where we will. Having, in the preceding part, made my remarks on the several matters which the speech contains, I shall now make my remarks on what it does not contain. Mifflin but he had sett off, and nothing was done. Most other passions have their periods of fatigue and rest; their suffering and their cure; but obstinacy has no resource, and the first wound is mortal. You all complain of the corruption of the parliament, and of the venality of the nation, and yet you forget that the Crown is the source of them both. It was his good fortune to be situated in an elegant country and at a public charge, while we were driven about from pillar to post. “It is a thing very extraordinary and even ridiculous, that the court of London, who treats the colonies as independent, not only in acting, but of right, during the war, should have a repugnance to treat them as such only in acting during a truce, or suspension of hostilities. it is wholly owing to the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the government. They never had, neither have they at this time, any regular plan for the conquest of America by arms. The proposal for sending over those supplies, appears to have been originally made by some public spirited gentleman in France, before ever Mr. Deane arrived there, or was known or heard of in that Country, and to have been communicated (personally by Mr. Beaumarchais, the gentleman mentioned in the letter signed J. L. which letter is given at length by Mr. 280, 408, 462.—Editor. away, the hero of their own tale, and in a whirlwind of their own raising; such men are very seldom what the populace mean by the word “staunch,” and it is only by a continuance of service that any public can become a judge of a man’s principles. I had no thoughts of independence or of arms. From every circumstance it is evident, that it was the determination of the British court to have nothing to do with America but to conquer her fully and absolutely. was reduced to, and comprehended in, the act of bearing arms, and that by the people only. We had governments to form; measures to concert; an army to train, and every necessary article to import or to create. And when we view a flag, which to the eye is beautiful, and to contemplate its rise and origin inspires a sensation of sublime delight, our national honour must unite with our interest to prevent injury to the one, or insult to the other. They have never yet succeeded where-ever they have been opposed, but at fort Washington. The first of those letters promised a second, the second a third, the third a fourth; the fourth hath since made its appearance, and still the writer keeps wide of the question. It was not the ignorance of the age only, but the vanity of it, which rendered it dangerous to be ingenious. A narrow system of politics, like a narrow system of religion, is calculated only to sour the temper, and be at variance with mankind. for without those it was no account at all; it was what the Sailors call a boot account, so much money gone and the Lord knows for what. Remember the times of Charles the first! They have added to the dissolution of manners, and supported Venus against the Muses. Men have a right to reason for themselves, and though they cannot contradict the intelligence in the Edition: current; Page: [436] Britain and America are now distinct empires. A traitor is the foulest fiend on earth. those false notions of honour. The supreme authority of one country, however different may be its mode, will ever pay a just regard to that of another, more especially when in alliance. Because of superstitions people always took the word of the bible as true according to Thomas it is a book of lies blasphemy and wickedness. I presume Congress are anxious to hear him, and to have his accounts arranged and settled; and if this should be the case, why did Mr. Deane leave his papers in France, and now complain that his affairs are not concluded? Such a request, had it been complied with a year ago, would have won the heart and soul of the Continent, but now it is too late. XI was written in April 191783 the revolution is completely accomplished during this time. Mr. [President] Laurens forwarded yours to York Town where I afterwards received it. The British magazines, at their commencement, were the repositories of ingenuity: They are now the retailers of tale and nonsense. To see it in our power to make a world happy—to teach mankind the art of being so—to exhibit, on the theatre of the universe a character hitherto unknown—and to have, as it were, a new creation intrusted to our hands, are honors that command reflection, and can neither be too highly estimated, nor too gratefully received. The present war differs from every other, in this instance, viz. “We persecute no man, neither will we abet in the persecution of any man for religion’s sake; our common relation to others being that of fellow-citizens and fellow-subjects of one single community; and in this line of connexion we hold out the right hand of fellowship to all men. The brother of William Eden had been the last colonial Governor of Maryland. By a small degree of attention to the order and origin of things, we shall perceive, that though the surface of the earth produce us the necessaries of life, yet ‘tis from the mine we extract the conveniences thereof. And the fifth is their just due. You seem surprised that Holland does not pour in her succours to maintain you mistress of the seas, when her own commerce is suffering by your act of navigation; or that any country should study her own interest while yours is on the carpet. The most sanguine in Britain doth not think so. Cato likewise says, that, while we continue united, and renounce all thoughts of Independance, “we have the utmost assurance of obtaining a full redress of our grievances, and an ample security against and future violation of our just rights. It was time for every In balmage, sir, of humble tar, you will be as secure as Pharaoh, and in a hieroglyphic of feathers, rival in finery all the mummies of Egypt. Filled with these high ideas, nothing could be more insolent towards America than the language of the British court on the proposed mediation. second is, that when the danger comes, invited in part by our not preparing against it, we have been obliged, in a number of instances, to expend double the sums to do that which at first might have been done for half the money. I have already stated that the expense of conducting the present war, and the government of the several states, may be done for two millions sterling, and the establishment in the time of peace, for three quarters of a million.∗. “Whereas, our wish is peace but not re-union; and though we would gladly listen to the former, we are determined to resist every proposal for the latter, come from where it will; being fully persuaded, that in the present state of affairs separation of governments is the only and best thing that can be done for both countries. 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