The American Revolutionary War and Common Sense

           After the Seven Years War, England was left with a tremendous debt. Not knowing where to get the money to pay off the debt, the British decided to tax the Americans. Parliament came to the conclusion that America owed them money for sending their troops over to protect the Americans from the Indians during the war. Thus, they decide to tax them, but the Americans believed that since they helped fight alongside the British during the war they should not have to pay taxes. Tension broke and in 1775 the American Revolutionary war began.

           The original cause of the war came from the taxes that England tried to impose on the Americans. Americans tried to protest against this taxation, but eventually England became weary of their attitude. They sent troops to punish those who disobeyed orders and battles broke out. America then became a split country when a group of people still favored the king and believed they should follow orders while the opposing team believed they should be able to rule by themselves and break all ties with England other than trading. During the early battles, Thomas Paine realized the absurdity of England, a small country, ruling over America, a massive country compared to its size. As a result he wrote Common Sense to state his opinions over the matter and informed the public of what should be and was happening because of the war.

            In Common Sense Paine wrote about the control England had over America. He stated that America is not a country full of only English descendants but a country that inhabits various backgrounds from all over Europe. Because of this Paine tells the public that America should be a free country, have no ties to any one nation, and be able to trade freely to any nation. Paine basically ridiculed Britain’s attempt to rule over America and demanded that America fight for its freedom. The publishing of Common Sense was what triggered the Americans to really fight for their freedom and became a turning point in the war.

Works Cited

Parker, Matthew. "Thomas Paine and Common Sense ." Revolutionary War Archives. Sons of  Liberty Chapter, November 2001. Web. 3 Oct 2012. <http://www.revolutionarywararchives.org/commonsense.html>.

-Ana Juan