8th Grade Interim Assessment #1 Intervention - 8.1.2

Paine’s Common Sense     “[T]here is something very absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually [forever] governed by an island.” This argument against British rule over America appeared in Common Sense, a 47-page pamphlet published in January 1776 that urged separation from Great Britain. Common Sense was published anonymously—that is, without the author’s name. The author, Thomas Paine, argued that citizens, not kings and queens, should make laws. At a time when monarchs ruled much of the world, this was a bold idea.       News of the pamphlets spread throughout the colonies, eventually selling some 500,000 copies. Paine reached a wide audience by writing as a common person speaking to common people. Common Sense changed the way many colonists viewed their king. It made a strong case for economic freedom and for the right to military self-defense. It cried out against tyranny—that is, the abuse of government power. Thomas Paine’s words rang out in his time, and they have echoed throughout American history. Independence for Colonies        Many colonial leaders agreed with Paine. They thought that the colonies should be free. In June 1776 the Second Continental Congress created a committee to write a document declaring the colonies’ independence. A New Philosophy of Government      The committee members were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Jefferson was the document’s main author.      The Declaration of Independence formally announced the colonies’ break from Great Britain. In doing so, it expressed three main ideas. The first idea Jefferson argued was that all men possess unalienable rights. He stated that these basic rights include “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  Jefferson used many of John Locke's Enlightenment ideas of natural rights.      Jefferson’s next argument was that King George III had violated the colonists’ rights by passing unfair laws and interfering with colonial governments. Jefferson accused the king of taxing colonists without their consent and he felt that the large British army in the colonies violated colonists’ rights.      Third, Jefferson argued that the colonies had the right to break from Britain. He was influenced by the Enlightenment idea of the social contract, which states that governments and rulers must protect the rights of citizens. In exchange, the people agree to be governed. Jefferson said that because King George III had broken the social contract, the colonists should no longer obey him.      On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. This act broke all ties to the British Crown. The United States of America was born.  Other Reactions to the Declaration      Today we can see that the Declaration ignored many colonists. At least one delegate’s wife, Abigail Adams, tried to influence her husband to include women in the Declaration. Although many women were Patriots, the Declaration did not address their rights.      Nor did the Declaration recognize the rights of enslaved African Americans. The Revolution raised questions about whether slavery should exist in a land that valued liberty. Some Patriot writers had compared living under British rule to living as slaves. The difference between the ideals of liberty and the practice of slavery was a subject of great disagreement among Americans.      In July 1776 slavery was legal in all of the colonies. By the 1780s the New England colonies were taking steps to end slavery. Even so, the conflict over slavery continued long after the Revolutionary War had ended.