Title
A Teenaged Wasteland: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the Argument of Britain’s Motherly Hold on a Young America
Student Major/Year in School
Anthropology, fourth year
Faculty Mentor Information
Dr. Laurie Johnson, Primary Texts Certificate, Arts and Science
Abstract
Months after the “shot heard around the world” was fired, one of America’s most revolutionary texts was published anonymously by Thomas Paine. Common Sense sold thousands of copies by the time the Revolutionary War ended. The pamphlet had an incredible impact on not only a majority of the public at the time but also on the Founding Fathers. Common Sense played a crucial role in American independence as it aided in the final separation of the American colonies from England’s power. This paper presentation aims to look deeper into the introduction of Paine’s iconic work, including the section “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs”. This presentation analyzes how Paine composed Common Sense through the structure of his writing, why America’s independence from Britain- who he brutally compared to as an abusive mother- was necessary in his eyes, and finally how this work contributed to the enlightenment movement in the developing United States.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Kerns, Kaylee (2019). "A Teenaged Wasteland: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the Argument of Britain’s Motherly Hold on a Young America," Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference.
A Teenaged Wasteland: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the Argument of Britain’s Motherly Hold on a Young America
Months after the “shot heard around the world” was fired, one of America’s most revolutionary texts was published anonymously by Thomas Paine. Common Sense sold thousands of copies by the time the Revolutionary War ended. The pamphlet had an incredible impact on not only a majority of the public at the time but also on the Founding Fathers. Common Sense played a crucial role in American independence as it aided in the final separation of the American colonies from England’s power. This paper presentation aims to look deeper into the introduction of Paine’s iconic work, including the section “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs”. This presentation analyzes how Paine composed Common Sense through the structure of his writing, why America’s independence from Britain- who he brutally compared to as an abusive mother- was necessary in his eyes, and finally how this work contributed to the enlightenment movement in the developing United States.
