In Thomas Paine document Common Sense, Paine argues for American independence from the crown. He starts his argument by talking about government and religion as well as society, then he progress to the specifics on the colonial situation. According to Paine, “society is everything constructive and good that people join together to accomplish.” He then goes on to attack the British government, after he writes that he believes that people will be much happier if they were responsible for the creation of laws that ruled them. Also he argues that such a system of representation is better for the American colonists. He launches his attack by saying “the British system is too complex and rife with contradictions, and that the monarchy is granted far too much power. The system pretends to offer a reasonable system of checks and balances, but in fact, it does not.” So stands the question, is independence necessary for the American colonies? Paine believe independence is necessary for the American colonies, even though they flourished under the British rule, he argues that America has evolved and no longer needs Britain’s help. Should they be allegiance with Britain, because of Britain’s protection of the American colonies, no says Paine. Paine responded by saying “Britain had only watched over America to secure its own economic well being”, he then adds that “recently the British have been attacking them, and are therefore undeserving of American loyalty.” He states that the colonies have little to gain from remaining attached to Britain. Paine says the time for independence is now, to insure the success of the colonies in the future. Independence was the right road for the colonies to take, because it made us who we are today.
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Common Sense By: Thomas Pain
America has cut the cord with Great Britain, freedom is ringing. She has mothered us. She taught us everything we needed to know and now it’s time we must go and show her everything she taught us. She raised us to know right from wrong, and now it’s time to shine. Just as a new mom nurses her baby until it’s able to eat table food, Great Britain has done the same.
It’s time to be independent now, we are adults. She raised us to stand proud and strong on our own two feet. Now we no longer need her. We have formed are on back bone. Some feel we should still be dependent on them, With France and Spain as they were at war with Great Britain, but we were taught to be our own person and not be dependent on anyone.
Just as mothers jewelry will always be there to pass down, her trade of gold and silver secure her from invaders, just as the jewelry is passed down so in knowledge. They will not have a single advantage over us; we know are rights about what we have here, such as market and imported goods.
We need to stand for what we believe in, no more blood on our hands just because Britain feels they need to go to war with another foreign power. We will stand and love our neighbors until they give us a reason not to.
Britain had ruined thousands but not us because they taught us better. We will form a government that stands behind us, not beside us, a government which can’t preserve the peace, is not a government at all. It’s time we stand tall and proud. It’s time we show them that we are adults now and can stand on our own two feet and not depend on our parents no more.
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Some assumptions I had about the Salem Witchcraft Trials is that the trial were about actual witches. I thought that the trials that were held were to prosecute witches in the town of Salem. Another assumption I ha was that the people on trial were not given fair trials due to the fact that they were considered witches an not humans. I though that all these witches on trial were executed by either being hung or burned.
When I heard "Salem Witchcraft Trials", I immediately pictured witches terrorizing the town of Salem and taking over. I also imaged witches being hung and physically persecuted. The readings most certainly have changed my perception about the trials and the town itself. I believed that the trials that were held were about real witches participating in real witchcraft. After reading I soon realized that the trials about normal people being accused of witchcraft just to make sense of what was happening around the village.
I trust that the popular image of Salem is different than the truth because of how the events that were occurring were handled. They blamed innocent people just to fin some kind of closure on what was happening in the village. What we assume about this historic event is not what actually happened. The name "Salem Witchcraft Trials" gives off a sense of hauntedness and that real witches were present at the time of the event. This tells us that the presentation of history to the public may not always be true. We believe what we hear an assume what we don't.
Work Cited:
Linder, Douglas. “The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary.”
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I had always assumed that the Salem Witchcraft Trials that the accusers were crazy because there was no real proof of witchcraft. I also assumed that the people being accused of witchcraft were just crazy. Before reading this section, I believed that everyone accused were women and were killed by fire in the Salem Witchcraft trials. I believed this because any images I ever saw showed women being burned alive. The readings in this course have showed me that all of my beliefs were wrong because these readings have showed me that men, women, and even dogs were put to death in this case. The readings also said that not a single person died by fire but instead there were nineteen men and women were executed by hanging and one case where Giles Corey was pressed to death. In addition to this number, four accused witches died in jail, two dogs were killed as accomplices to witches, and hundreds of people were put in jail by being accused of witchcraft. These readings also showed me that in the case of some of the accused witches could possibly had a disease that they had no control over. I think that the popular image is different than what actually happened because it was there to scare any other settlements into doing the wrong thing and accusing people unjustly. I believe that this shows us that the people in charge of the history wanted to protect their own integrity as well as discourage any other settlement or colony from doing something similar happening.
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keisha16
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