Common Sense

Common sense is what people think in general terms about a particular topic. It's a natural human agreement on something. Is defined as a belief that people consider prudent on an issue or situation, without that information is scientifically or is part of an esoteric knowledge, the only thing that matters here is that most people believe or have in "common".

Paine understood that the Bible was the one book that most Anglo-Americans were familiar with, and he used it with skill and determination. He did not just attack King George III--he attacked the very idea of monarchy and cited the Bible as proof of this position: "Monarchy is ranked in the scriptures as one of the sins of the Jews." Paine then went on to cite chapter and verse about how the Jewish insistence on having a king had led to the downfall of ancient Israel, quoting long sections of Samuel to highlight God's displeasure with the idea of having a king.

If Paine used religion, he relied on the ideas of the Enlightenment even more. The influence of the Enlightenment, which centered on a belief in the relationship between nature and reason, can be seen in the repeated references to "natural principles." Paine also simplified the ideas of John Locke by putting complex thoughts on the origin of government into language almost everyone could understand: "Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness." Thus, humans were seen as social individuals who must rely on government for some protection.

Combining forthright language with biblical references and Enlightenment ideas, Paine leveled a devastating attack on the English constitution, the king of England, and even hereditary aristocracy. Until the publication of his pamphlet, most colonial Americans revered the British constitution, believed that the king was ultimately good, and clung to ...