“England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones yet no man in his senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very honourable one. His attitude to monarchy in general is entertainingly severe: With breath-taking chutzpah, Paine singled out George as “the royal brute” responsible for all the ills of America. Rarely has a single volume achieved such an instantaneous effect, possibly because it was published on the same day that George III pledged in parliament to put “a speedy end to these disorders” in the 13 colonies.Ĭommon Sense is a model of popular journalistic brio, written to be understood by all readers, high and low. A down-on-his-luck emigrant, landing in Philadelphia with few prospects, he had written Common Sense (the title belonged to another revolutionary, Benjamin Rush) in a few hectic weeks. He made his name by out-Englishing the English: exaggerating the most distinctive traits and selling it as a basis for revolt. Thomas Paine, unmasked as the author of this sensational broadside, is a key figure in the making of the Anglo-American tradition, a man of fierce libertarian language and mercenary political instincts.
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