feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/novelguide/Common Sense/section_4_part_0.txt
feat_book_id: Common Sense.chapter 3
feat_summary_id: chapter 3
feat_summary: {"name": "Chapter 3", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20210212220739/https://www.novelguide.com/common-sense/summaries/chap3", "summary": "on Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs Again the author claims to offer \"simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense\" . He will give facts and let the reason of the reader judge for itself. He mentions that volumes have been written already on the pros and cons of separation from England, but now, \"the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the last resource, decide the contest\" . Paine claims that the king has chosen this route by his action. Parliament was prepared to make some slight concessions to Americans but only for a time. Now, the larger view must be taken. The author claims Americans must act for posterity: \"The sun never shone on a cause of greater worth\" . Everything has changed since the 19th of April with the British troops attacking American colonists at Lexington and Concord. This is a new era, and reconciliation is no longer a possibility. Now the injuries of Americans will be discussed. First, he considers the argument that Americans flourished under British protection, and it must therefore continue to be good for them. No, says, Paine, the child has to grow up and leave the parent country . Second, some say Britain protects us from our enemies. Actually, British troops are in America to protect British property, for America is their rich subservient colony. Next, he considers the argument that Britain is the only unifying factor in the colonies that are actually unrelated to one another. Paine says that many colonists did not come from England but from other European countries. Europe is thus the parent of Americans, not England. At any rate, England has made itself the enemy of Americans through its behavior of attack and plunder. Americans do not need Britain. They are rich and dedicated to trade with all of Europe. It is in Europe's interest to have a free America. There is no advantage to remaining with Britain but there are many disadvantages, such as being dragged into European wars. There is the great distance between the two countries that makes it ridiculous for one to rule the other. Separation is inevitable, and this is the right time. Americans are in a precarious situation not knowing if their property is secure while Britain rules. He gives as example the prosperous city of Boston, now under siege. How can we go back and trust a government that has put fire and sword to our citizens? He is not exaggerating, he says, but appealing to \"those feelings and affections which nature justifies\" . Americans have already exhausted every peaceful means. To think the British will change is foolish. They repealed the Stamp Act, but a year or two later there were other taxes and tariffs. The British government cannot do justice in the ruling of America, for it is already too large and complicated. How can a continent be governed by an island? The King is an enemy of liberty and insists on being America's lawgiver. America can never be first in the thoughts of the British government. It cannot attract emigrants when its government is insecure. Finally, it is only continental independence that can keep the land free of civil war. As a republic it can foster equality that will bring peace to the land. In this historical moment, Americans have the chance to invent a better human government. The author gives a few of his ideas of what the new government should be like, such as fostering freedom of religion, and proposes a Continental Congress or Conference to come up with a Charter of the United Colonies. There will be equality and no king, for in America \"THE LAW IS KING\" . There are injuries that cannot be forgiven, so Britain and America must part.", "analysis": "Commentary on Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs Paine wants to make it clear that Americans have no recourse but war with and separation from England. He shows that things have gone too far with all the incidents that have taken place, such as the closing of ports, the siege of Boston, the clash of troops with citizens, and so forth. He gives practical ideas why America has to be free in terms of being able to rule itself and take care of its business. It can be in a better position with trade and internal governance, able to avoid entanglement in European affairs. He mentions that America is profitable for Britain, and the unspoken argument is that America can make more money and successful trade agreements on its own. On a loftier note, he continues the idea of a moral reason to separate for the sake of posterity and freedom. A lot of the argument builds on the fact that subjugation to a king is immoral. A king is in an abusive position, and he is only one person. A hereditary position makes no sense in the commercial scientific world that is arising at this time. Paine looks ahead to new possibilities of life with economic and political freedom and equality for all. Hereditary privilege is a thing of the past, he announces. Self-governance is a natural right, a doctrine that will be spelled out in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. It is interesting that Paine thinks self-governance will help America avoid civil war, when history showed this idea to be wrong. Paine thought that there would be one unifying government instead of individual state governments that would be tempted to war with each other. The regional differences, however, were one of the sticking points at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The South wanted to retain slavery, while the North wanted to abolish it. Paine, Jefferson, and other revolutionaries used the new ideas of Enlightenment thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke to make this move of gaining freedom and self-governance seem \"natural\" rather than violent or rebellious. The British king can call it treason, but the colonists justify revolution as their natural right, and they have many liberal philosophers of the time to back them up."}
text: IN the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain
  arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to
  settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice
  and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to
  determine for themselves; that he will put ON, or rather that he
  will not put OFF, the true character of a man, and generously
  enlarge his views beyond the present day.
  
  Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between
  England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the
  controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but
  all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms,
  as the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice
  of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge.
  
  It hath been reported of the late Mr Pelham (who tho' an able
  minister was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in
  the house of commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a
  temporary kind, replied, "THEY WILL LAST MY TIME." Should a thought
  so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, the
  name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with
  detestation.
  
  The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the
  affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a
  continent--of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis
  not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually
  involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to
  the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of
  continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be
  like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a
  young oak; The wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read
  it in full grown characters.
  
  By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new era for
  politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans,
  proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of April, I. E. to the
  commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacks of the last year;
  which, though proper then, are superceded and useless now. Whatever
  was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then,
  terminated in one and the same point, viz. a union with
  Great Britain; the only difference between the parties was the method
  of effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but
  it hath so far happened that the first hath failed, and the second
  hath withdrawn her influence.
  
  As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which,
  like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it
  is but right, that we should examine the contrary side of the
  argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which
  these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected
  with, and dependant on Great Britain. To examine that connexion and
  dependance, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what
  we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if
  dependant.
  
  I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished
  under her former connexion with Great Britain, that the same
  connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always
  have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind
  of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived
  upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty
  years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But
  even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that
  America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no
  European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which
  she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will
  always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.
  
  But she has protected us, say some. That she hath engrossed us is
  true, and defended the continent at our expence as well as her own is
  admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive,
  viz. the sake of trade and dominion.
  
  Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made
  large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of
  Great Britain, without considering, that her motive was INTEREST
  not ATTACHMENT; that she did not protect us from OUR ENEMIES on
  OUR ACCOUNT, but from HER ENEMIES on HER OWN ACCOUNT, from
  those who had no quarrel with us on any OTHER ACCOUNT, and who will
  always be our enemies on the SAME ACCOUNT. Let Britain wave her
  pretensions to the continent, or the continent throw off the
  dependance, and we should be at peace with France and Spain were they
  at war with Britain. The miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn
  us against connexions.
  
  It hath lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have
  no relation to each other but through the parent country, I. E.
  that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister
  colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about
  way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way
  of proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never
  were, nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as AMERICANS, but as our
  being the SUBJECTS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
  
  But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame
  upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages
  make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns
  to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so,
  and the phrase PARENT or MOTHER COUNTRY hath been jesuitically
  adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design
  of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds.
  Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new
  world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and
  religious liberty from EVERY PART of Europe. Hither have they fled,
  not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of
  the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny
  which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants
  still.
  
  In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits
  of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry
  our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every
  European christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment.
  
  It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount
  the force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the
  world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will
  naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their
  interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the
  name of NEIGHBOUR; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he
  drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of
  TOWNSMAN; if he travel out of the county, and meet him in any
  other, he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls
  him COUNTRYMAN; i. e. COUNTY-MAN; but if in their foreign
  excursions they should associate in France or any other part of
  EUROPE, their local remembrance would be enlarged into that of
  ENGLISHMEN. And by a just parity of reasoning, all Europeans
  meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, are
  COUNTRYMEN; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared
  with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, which
  the divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones;
  distinctions too limited for continental minds. Not one third of the
  inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore
  I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England
  only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous.
  
  But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does it
  amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes
  every other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our
  duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present
  line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of
  England are descendants from the same country; wherefore, by the same
  method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France.
  
  Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the
  colonies, that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world.
  But this is mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither
  do the expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never
  suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British
  arms in either Asia, Africa, or Europe.
  
  Besides, what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our
  plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the
  peace and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of
  all Europe to have America a FREE PORT. Her trade will always be a
  protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from
  invaders.
  
  I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, a
  single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected
  with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is
  derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and
  our imported goods must be paid for buy them where we will.
  
  But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection,
  are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to
  ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any
  submission to, or dependance on Great Britain, tends directly to
  involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at
  variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and
  against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our
  market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any
  part of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of
  European contentions, which she never can do, while by her dependance
  on Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale on British
  politics.
  
  Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace,
  and whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power,
  the trade of America goes to ruin, BECAUSE OF HER CONNECTION WITH
  BRITAIN. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it
  not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for
  separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer
  convoy than a man of war. Every thing that is right or natural pleads
  for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature
  cries, 'TIS TIME TO PART. Even the distance at which the Almighty
  hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural proof, that
  the authority of the one, over the other, was never the design of
  Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent was discovered, adds
  weight to the argument, and the manner in which it was peopled
  encreases the force of it. The reformation was preceded by the
  discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a
  sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford
  neither friendship nor safety.
  
  The authority of Great Britain over this continent, is a form of
  government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious
  mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful
  and positive conviction, that what he calls "the present
  constitution" is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy,
  knowing that THIS GOVERNMENT is not sufficiently lasting to ensure
  any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method
  of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we
  ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and
  pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we
  should take our children in our hand, and fix our station a few years
  farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect, which a few
  present fears and prejudices conceal from our sight.
  
  Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am
  inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of
  reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions.
  Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who CANNOT
  see; prejudiced men, who WILL NOT see; and a certain set of
  moderate men, who think better of the European world than it
  deserves; and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be
  the cause of more calamities to this continent, than all the other
  three.
  
  It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of
  sorrow; the evil is not sufficiently brought to THEIR doors to make
  THEM feel the precariousness with which all American property is
  possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments to
  Boston, that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct
  us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. The
  inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few months ago were
  in ease and affluence, have now, no other alternative than to stay
  and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered by the fire of their
  friends if they continue within the city, and plundered by the
  soldiery if they leave it. In their present condition they are
  prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in a general attack for
  their relief, they would be exposed to the fury of both armies.
  
  Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offences of
  Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "COME,
  COME, WE SHALL BE FRIENDS AGAIN, FOR ALL THIS." But examine the
  passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of
  reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether
  you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the power that
  hath carried fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all
  these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay
  bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with Britain,
  whom you can neither love nor honour, will be forced and unnatural,
  and being formed only on the plan of present convenience, will in a
  little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. But if
  you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath
  your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your
  face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or
  bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands,
  and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not, then
  are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and still can
  shake hands with the murderers, then you are unworthy of the name of
  husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or
  title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a
  sycophant.
  
  This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by
  those feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without
  which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of
  life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror
  for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and
  unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed object.
  It is not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if
  she do not conquer herself by DELAY and TIMIDITY. The present
  winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected,
  the whole continent will partake of the misfortune; and there is no
  punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who, or what, or
  where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a season so
  precious and useful.
  
  It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things to all
  examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer
  remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain
  does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this
  time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise the
  continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is NOW a falacious
  dream. Nature hath deserted the connexion, and Art cannot supply her
  place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true reconcilement
  grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep."
  
  Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers
  have been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that
  nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than
  repeated petitioning--and noting hath contributed more than that very
  measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark and
  Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God's sake,
  let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next generation
  to be cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names of parent
  and child.
  
  To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we
  thought so at the repeal of the stamp act, yet a year or two
  undeceived us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been
  once defeated, will never renew the quarrel.
  
  As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do
  this continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty,
  and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of
  convenience, by a power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of
  us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be
  always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a
  petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when
  obtained requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few
  years be looked upon as folly and childishness--There was a time when
  it was proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease.
  
  Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper
  objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something
  very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by
  an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than
  its primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each
  other, reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong
  to different systems: England to Europe, America to itself.
  
  I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to
  espouse the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly,
  positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true
  interest of this continent to be so; that every thing short of THAT
  is mere patchwork, that it can afford no lasting felicity,--that it is
  leaving the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time,
  when, a little more, a little farther, would have rendered this
  continent the glory of the earth.
  
  As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a
  compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy
  the acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expense of
  blood and treasure we have been already put to.
  
  The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just
  proportion to the expense. The removal of North, or the whole
  detestable junto, is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended.
  A temporary stoppage of trade, was an inconvenience, which would have
  sufficiently ballanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, had
  such repeals been obtained; but if the whole continent must take up
  arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while
  to fight against a contemptible ministry only. Dearly, dearly, do we
  pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for in a
  just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay a Bunker-hill price
  for law, as for land. As I have always considered the independancy of
  this continent, as an event, which sooner or later must arrive, so
  from the late rapid progress of the continent to maturity, the event
  could not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of hostilities,
  it was not worth the while to have disputed a matter, which time
  would have finally redressed, unless we meant to be in earnest;
  otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a suit at law, to regulate
  the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is just expiring. No man was
  a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before the fatal
  nineteenth of April 1775,  but the moment the event of that day was
  made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of
  England for ever; and disdain 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.
  
  But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the
  event? I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several
  reasons.
  
  FIRST. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of
  the king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this
  continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to
  liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or
  is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "YOU SHALL MAKE NO
  LAWS BUT WHAT I PLEASE." And is there any inhabitant in America so
  ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the
  PRESENT CONSTITUTION, that this continent can make no laws but what
  the king gives it leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to
  see, that (considering what has happened) he will suffer no law to be
  made here, but such as suit HIS purpose. We may be as effectually
  enslaved by the want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws
  made for us in England. After matters are made up (as it is called)
  can there be any doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be
  exerted, to keep this continent as low and humble as possible?
  Instead of going forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually
  quarrelling or ridiculously petitioning. We are already greater than
  the king wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter endeavour to make
  us less? To bring the matter to one point. Is the power who is
  jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says
  NO to this question is an INDEPENDANT, for independancy means no
  more, than, whether we shall make our own laws, or, whether the king,
  the greatest enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall tell us,
  "THERE SHALL BE NO LAWS BUT SUCH AS I LIKE."
  
  But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people
  there can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and
  good order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of
  twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall say to several millions
  of people, older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of
  yours to be law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply,
  though I will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only
  answer, that England being the King's residence, and America not so,
  make quite another case. The king's negative HERE is ten times more
  dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for THERE he will
  scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as
  strong a state of defence as possible, and in America he would never
  suffer such a bill to be passed.
  
  America is only a secondary object in the system of British
  politics, England consults the good of THIS country, no farther
  than it answers her OWN purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads
  her to suppress the growth of OURS in every case which doth not
  promote her advantage, or in the least interferes with it. A pretty
  state we should soon be in under such a second-hand government,
  considering what has happened! Men do not change from enemies to
  friends by the alteration of a name: And in order to shew that
  reconciliation NOW is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm, THAT IT
  WOULD BE POLICY IN THE KING AT THIS TIME, TO REPEAL THE ACTS FOR THE
  SAKE OF REINSTATING HIMSELF IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCES; in
  order that HE MAY ACCOMPLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTILITY, IN THE LONG RUN,
  WHAT HE CANNOT DO BY FORCE AND VIOLENCE IN THE SHORT ONE.
  Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related.
  
  SECONDLY. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to
  obtain, can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind
  of government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the
  colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in the
  interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of property
  will not choose to come to a country whose form of government hangs
  but by a thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink of
  commotion and disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitants
  would lay hold of the interval, to dispose of their effects, and quit
  the continent.
  
  But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but
  independance, i. e. a continental form of government, can keep the
  peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I
  dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more
  than probable, that it will followed by a revolt somewhere or other,
  the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the malice
  of Britain.
  
  Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more
  will probably suffer the same fate.) Those men have other feelings
  than us who have nothing suffered. All they NOW possess is liberty,
  what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having
  nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general
  temper of the colonies, towards a British government, will be like
  that of a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will care very
  little about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace,
  is no government at all, and in that case we pay our money for
  nothing; and pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will be
  wholly on paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day after
  reconciliation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe
  spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independance, fearing
  that it would produce civil wars. It is but seldom that our first
  thoughts are truly correct, and that is the case here; for there are
  ten times more to dread from a patched up connexion than from
  independance. I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest, that
  were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and my
  circumstances ruined, that as a man, sensible of injuries, I could
  never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself bound
  thereby.
  
  The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and
  obedience to continental government, as is sufficient to make every
  reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the
  least pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, that such as are
  truly childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving
  for superiority over another.
  
  Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority,
  perfect equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are
  all (and we may say always) in peace. Holland and Swisserland are
  without wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is
  true, are never long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to
  enterprizing ruffians at HOME; and that degree of pride and
  insolence ever attendant on regal authority, swells into a rupture
  with foreign powers, in instances, where a republican government, by
  being formed on more natural principles, would negotiate the mistake.
  
  
  If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance, it is
  because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way
  out--Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the
  following hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no
  other opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of
  giving rise to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of
  individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for
  wise and able men to improve into useful matter.
  
  Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The
  representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and
  subject to the authority of a Continental Congress.
  
  Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient
  districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to
  Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number
  in Congress will be least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose
  a president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let
  a colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after
  which, let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from out
  of the delegates of THAT province. In the next Congress, let a
  colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from
  which the president was taken in the former Congress, and so
  proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their proper
  rotation. And in order that nothing may pass into a law but what is
  satisfactorily just, not less than three fifths of the Congress to be
  called a majority. He that will promote discord, under a government
  so equally formed as this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt.
  
  But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner,
  this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and
  consistent that it should come from some intermediate body between
  the governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and the
  people, let a CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE be held, in the following
  manner, and for the following purpose.
  
  A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each
  colony. Two members for each House of Assembly, or Provincial
  Convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be
  chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for, and in
  behalf of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall
  think proper to attend from all parts of the province for that
  purpose; or, if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen in
  two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this conference,
  thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of business,
  KNOWLEDGE and POWER. The members of Congress, Assemblies, or
  Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be
  able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being impowered by the
  people, will have a truly legal authority.
  
  The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a
  CONTINENTAL CHARTER, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering to
  what is called the Magna Charta of England) fixing the number and
  manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with
  their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and
  jurisdiction between them: (Always remembering, that our strength is
  continental, not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all
  men, and above all things, the free exercise of religion, according
  to the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is necessary
  for a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the said
  Conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen
  comformable to the said charter, to be the legislators and governors
  of this continent for the time being: Whose peace and happiness, may
  God preserve, Amen.
  
  Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some
  similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise
  observer on governments DRAGONETTI. "The science" says he "of the
  politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and
  freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should
  discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of
  individual happiness, with the least national expense." "DRAGONETTI
  ON VIRTUE AND REWARDS."
  
  But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend,
  he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal
  Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in
  earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the
  charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word
  of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know,
  that so far as we approve as monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS
  KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free
  countries the law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other.
  But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the
  conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the
  people whose right it is.
  
  A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man
  seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will
  become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a
  constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it
  in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and
  chance. If we omit it now, some, [*1] Massanello may hereafter arise,
  who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the
  desperate and discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers
  of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a
  deluge. Should the government of America return again into the hands
  of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a temptation
  for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in such a case,
  what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the news, the fatal
  business might be done; and ourselves suffering like the wretched
  Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that oppose
  independance now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door to
  eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. There are
  thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious to
  expel from the continent, that barbarous and hellish power, which
  hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us, the cruelty
  hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously
  by them.
  
  To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to
  have faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores
  instruct us to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the
  little remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any
  reason to hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will
  increase, or that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more
  and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever?
  
  Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us
  the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former
  innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last
  cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses
  against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would
  cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the
  ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of
  Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable
  feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his
  image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common
  animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated
  from the earth, or have only a casual existence were we callous to
  the touches of affection. The robber, and the murderer, would often
  escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers sustain,
  provoke us into justice.
  
  O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny,
  but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun
  with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and
  Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger,
  and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the
  fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.
  
  Note 1  Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples,
  who after spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place,
  against the oppression of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then
  subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became
  king.
feat_summary_name: Chapter 3
target: on Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs Again the author claims to offer "simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense" . He will give facts and let the reason of the reader judge for itself. He mentions that volumes have been written already on the pros and cons of separation from England, but now, "the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the last resource, decide the contest" . Paine claims that the king has chosen this route by his action. Parliament was prepared to make some slight concessions to Americans but only for a time. Now, the larger view must be taken. The author claims Americans must act for posterity: "The sun never shone on a cause of greater worth" . Everything has changed since the 19th of April with the British troops attacking American colonists at Lexington and Concord. This is a new era, and reconciliation is no longer a possibility. Now the injuries of Americans will be discussed. First, he considers the argument that Americans flourished under British protection, and it must therefore continue to be good for them. No, says, Paine, the child has to grow up and leave the parent country . Second, some say Britain protects us from our enemies. Actually, British troops are in America to protect British property, for America is their rich subservient colony. Next, he considers the argument that Britain is the only unifying factor in the colonies that are actually unrelated to one another. Paine says that many colonists did not come from England but from other European countries. Europe is thus the parent of Americans, not England. At any rate, England has made itself the enemy of Americans through its behavior of attack and plunder. Americans do not need Britain. They are rich and dedicated to trade with all of Europe. It is in Europe's interest to have a free America. There is no advantage to remaining with Britain but there are many disadvantages, such as being dragged into European wars. There is the great distance between the two countries that makes it ridiculous for one to rule the other. Separation is inevitable, and this is the right time. Americans are in a precarious situation not knowing if their property is secure while Britain rules. He gives as example the prosperous city of Boston, now under siege. How can we go back and trust a government that has put fire and sword to our citizens? He is not exaggerating, he says, but appealing to "those feelings and affections which nature justifies" . Americans have already exhausted every peaceful means. To think the British will change is foolish. They repealed the Stamp Act, but a year or two later there were other taxes and tariffs. The British government cannot do justice in the ruling of America, for it is already too large and complicated. How can a continent be governed by an island? The King is an enemy of liberty and insists on being America's lawgiver. America can never be first in the thoughts of the British government. It cannot attract emigrants when its government is insecure. Finally, it is only continental independence that can keep the land free of civil war. As a republic it can foster equality that will bring peace to the land. In this historical moment, Americans have the chance to invent a better human government. The author gives a few of his ideas of what the new government should be like, such as fostering freedom of religion, and proposes a Continental Congress or Conference to come up with a Charter of the United Colonies. There will be equality and no king, for in America "THE LAW IS KING" . There are injuries that cannot be forgiven, so Britain and America must part.
feat_summary_analysis: Commentary on Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs Paine wants to make it clear that Americans have no recourse but war with and separation from England. He shows that things have gone too far with all the incidents that have taken place, such as the closing of ports, the siege of Boston, the clash of troops with citizens, and so forth. He gives practical ideas why America has to be free in terms of being able to rule itself and take care of its business. It can be in a better position with trade and internal governance, able to avoid entanglement in European affairs. He mentions that America is profitable for Britain, and the unspoken argument is that America can make more money and successful trade agreements on its own. On a loftier note, he continues the idea of a moral reason to separate for the sake of posterity and freedom. A lot of the argument builds on the fact that subjugation to a king is immoral. A king is in an abusive position, and he is only one person. A hereditary position makes no sense in the commercial scientific world that is arising at this time. Paine looks ahead to new possibilities of life with economic and political freedom and equality for all. Hereditary privilege is a thing of the past, he announces. Self-governance is a natural right, a doctrine that will be spelled out in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. It is interesting that Paine thinks self-governance will help America avoid civil war, when history showed this idea to be wrong. Paine thought that there would be one unifying government instead of individual state governments that would be tempted to war with each other. The regional differences, however, were one of the sticking points at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The South wanted to retain slavery, while the North wanted to abolish it. Paine, Jefferson, and other revolutionaries used the new ideas of Enlightenment thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke to make this move of gaining freedom and self-governance seem "natural" rather than violent or rebellious. The British king can call it treason, but the colonists justify revolution as their natural right, and they have many liberal philosophers of the time to back them up.