Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the convening of the second Continental Congress to discuss the Declaration of Independence epitomize the thinking of the age of enlightenment and forever changed the lives of everyone living in the colonies, including John and Abigail Adams. Paine’s Common Sense spoke of the rights of man and the need for the people of the colonies to be free and declare independence from their tyrannical owner.
The second Continental Congress was debating that very issue: whether or not the colonies should break away from their parent country and fight for their freedom. Both of these events deal with the rights of men and do not define women as individuals. The tyrannical control England held over the colonies is similar to the position that men held over women and Common Sense outlines this relationship and the need for America to break free.
The age of enlightenment in the 1700s broadened the minds of Europeans and provoked questions and ideas on subjects previously attributed to divine grace. Voltaire and Montesquieu wrote works such as “Universal Man” and The Spirit of Laws, which questioned authority.
This encouraged the colonies across the Atlantic to begin to stand up for their own rights against their British rulers. The most famous philosopher of this time, Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote about man’s place in Social Contract, wherein he said man was born free and he questioned why they should be enslaved. It was during this period that man broke with the thought that events were divinely prophesied but they were victims of logic, including the divine province of the king who was ordained to rule.
The Essay on Common Sense Paine And Americas Most Important Leaders Of The Protest
Over the centuries, one of the most important tools available to protesting groups was literature. Some of the most famous protest literature in the world has its roots in American history. For example, some great American authors of protest literature include Thomas Paine, Thomas Nast, John C. Calhoun, and Martin Luther King. Through eloquent, sometimes subtle means, these authors became the ...
Rousseau’s philosophy influenced Thomas Paine, an Englander who came to the colonies and proceeded to write the most popular, highest selling book in the nation’s history, Common Sense. The booklet went into its twenty-sixth printing within the first year. Common Sense outlined to the citizens of the colonies the inevitability to declare independence.
One of the main components of Paine’s argument was that if England was the mother of the colonies, how could a mother treat her “child” that way – disproportionate taxes, military rule and unfair management. Britain ruled the colonies in the best interest of Britain instead of what was best for the colonies. The crux of Paine’s argument was that England was too far away to properly govern the colonies and treated them unfairly. Common Sense was pushing for pure democracy where every American would have a voice.
Paine wrote Common Sense after the American Revolution had started and the second Continental Congress had convened to discuss independence. Called together in May of 1775, and after a year of debate, in May of 1776, Congress had persuaded each colony to approve a proclamation of independence. The attendees of the Continental Congress were appointed by their respective governments and were highly respected in their field.
After Congress passed a resolution and requested that each representative obtain permission from their parent colony to approve a declaration of independence, John Adams wrote a more radical preamble to the declaration, which was adopted on May 15, around the same time that the letters were written. It was the same day that Virginia brought forth a motion for a Declaration of Independence. While the American Revolution wanted their own rights and was working toward democracy, but it was a limited democracy as the forefathers held a fear of the common man.
Both of these events inspired the letters written by John and Abigail Adams in the spring of 1776. As Abigail implores John to “Remember the Ladies” and asks him to ensure that men are not given the same power over women that they held before. This is similar to the colonies’ desire to break away from their mother country and the dominance of the king. Men were tyrants to women as the king was a tyrant to the colonies.
The Essay on John Adams: America’s Second President
Adams was born in the village of Braintree (Quincy), Massachusetts, on Oct. 30, 1735. His father, also named John Adams, was a farmer, a deacon of the First Parish of Braintree, and a militia officer. His mother, Susanna Boylston Adams, came from a family of Brookline and Boston merchants and physicians. Adams attended dame and Latin school. Besides wanting to become a farmer, his school prepared ...
Abigail threatens a women’s rebellion to which John replies that America’s revolution has inspired many groups to rebel, but that is nothing compared to the possible uprising of women. John’s amused response is also similar to how the king responded to America’s rebellion. John never believed that woman’s rights would prevail just as the king thought the revolution was laughable and would be quickly squelched.
While Common Sense pushed for pure democracy, Adams was not inclined to agree with him. In John Adams’ letter to James Sullivan, Adams speaks of the method of determining the vote, rejecting Sullivan’s idea of using wealth as a means of deciding who is permitted to vote. Adams rebukes him, stating that this method would be too difficult; however, he held that opening the vote to everyone would be dangerous, unleashing the fickle whims of the “mob.” Adams believed there had to be some limits to who could vote and that “every man who has not a farthing, will demand an equal voice with any other.”
