public, in which government officials are elected by the people, is preferable to monarchy. When the Kings troops fired on colonists at Lexington and Concord, Paine wrote:I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharoah of England for ever; and distain the wretch, that with the pretended title of Father of his people, can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul. (68)Some might say Britain is a parent country, but Paine argued that Even brutes do not devour their young; nor savages make war on their families. The second idea that Paine pushed was the equality of rights among citizens. England had an aristocracy that tended naturally to corruption, and Paine thought that equality, not aristocracy, should be the defining characteristic of American politics. Finally, Paine argued for the international significance of the American Revolution. Paine drew from well-established traditions of America. He argued that in a world overrun with oppression, America would be an asylum of mankind. This sounds suspiciously like John Winthrops sermon City on the Hill. But instead of making a New England, Paine suggested that America could be a new kind of nation altogether. Common Sense was a colonial best-seller and went a long way toward convincing colonists of all persuasions: southern planters, Quakers, New England merchantsfolks from across the coloniesthat it would be best for all to break cleanly with the Royal Brute. The second event that occurred was the Declaration of Independence. Following the crowns rejection of the colonists appeals and Paines call for independence, the Continental Congress was ready to take action. In June, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia put before the Continental Congress a resolution for independence, and Congress appoints a committed of five members to compose a statement of American goals. These five include John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Conne...
