Lesson 1.7 · Unit 1 · RI.11-12.6, RI.11-12.5
Persuasion written for everybody
Common Sense sold in numbers that are still extraordinary relative to the colonial population, and it did so because Paine made a deliberate decision about who he was writing for. The style is the argument.
- Thomas Paine published Common Sense anonymously in January 1776, and it is in the public domain.
- It sold in the hundreds of thousands in a colonial population of roughly two and a half million.
- Paine wrote for readers without classical education, avoiding Latin tags and legal citation on purpose.
- His images are domestic and biblical, since those were the two bodies of reference his audience shared.
- He attacks monarchy as an institution, not merely George III, which was a far more radical position than most colonists held.
- The pamphlet was designed to be read aloud, in taverns and to groups, which explains its rhythms.
- The American Crisis of December 1776 was written for the same purpose in worse circumstances.
- Accessibility was a political position, since writing so that ordinary people could judge the question assumed they were entitled to.
Where students lose marks: praising the prose as "simple" without connecting it to the argument. The plainness asserts that ordinary readers can decide the question, which is the pamphlet's most radical claim.
The texts. Thomas Paine, Common Sense, January 1776, and The American Crisis, December 1776. Both public domain.
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.
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
Step one: examine the first argument's form. It is an argument from scale and from nature. An island governing a continent is absurd in the way a satellite larger than its planet would be absurd.
Step two: state what that avoids. Legal argument entirely. There is no appeal to charters, to precedent, to the rights of Englishmen or to any document. A reader with no education can evaluate the claim, because it is about size.
Step three: state why that is the radical move. Colonial argument up to 1776 was largely legal and conducted by lawyers. Paine relocates the question into a domain where ordinary readers are competent judges, which asserts that they are entitled to judge.
Step four: identify the analogy's weakness. Nature has nothing to say about government, and the fact that planets are larger than moons is not evidence about constitutions. It is a strong figure and a weak argument, and a reader should be able to say both.
Step five: work the second passage's sound. "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot." Alliteration on s, two parallel noun phrases, both coined for the occasion. The phrase is built to be repeated by people who heard it once.
Step six: state the circumstances. December 1776, after a string of defeats, with the army disintegrating. Washington had it read aloud to the troops. The prose is designed for the ear because it was going to be used that way.
Step seven: notice the concession. "These are the times that try men's souls" concedes that the situation is bad before asking anything. Paine does not open by denying the defeats, which is what makes the appeal credible.
Step eight: state the overall principle. Paine's accessibility is not a simplification of an argument made elsewhere in harder words. It is the argument: that this question belongs to everyone, and therefore must be written so that everyone can settle it.
Questions 1 to 5 are recall. Questions 6 to 10 ask for reasoning.
- When was Common Sense published, and under what name?
Show the full solution
January 1776, anonymously
- Who did Paine write for?
Show the full solution
Readers without classical education
- What does he attack, beyond George III?
Show the full solution
Monarchy as an institution
- What is the satellite analogy?
Show the full solution
That nature never makes the satellite larger than its primary planet
- What happened to The American Crisis in December 1776?
Show the full solution
Washington had it read aloud to the troops
- Why is relocating the argument away from law the radical move?
Show the full solution
Colonial argument up to 1776 was largely legal, conducted by lawyers in terms of charters, precedent and the rights of Englishmen. Paine moves the question into a domain, relative size, where any reader is a competent judge. Doing so asserts that ordinary people are entitled to settle the question, which is a more radical claim than anything he says about monarchy. It asserts that ordinary readers are entitled to judge the question
- Assess the satellite analogy as an argument.
Show the full solution
It is a strong figure and a weak argument. Nature has nothing to say about government, and the relative sizes of planets and moons are not evidence about constitutions. A reader should be able to admire how memorable it is and still notice that it establishes nothing, which is the discipline this course has applied to Henry and to Thoreau as well. Memorable and rhetorically strong, but it proves nothing
- Analyze "the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot".
Show the full solution
Two parallel noun phrases, both alliterating on s, both coined for the occasion and neither requiring explanation. The phrase is built to survive a single hearing and be repeated, which matters because the text was read aloud to soldiers rather than distributed for study. The construction follows from how it was going to be used. Built for the ear, to survive one hearing and be repeated
- Why does Paine open the Crisis by conceding?
Show the full solution
Because the audience had just been defeated repeatedly and knew it. Opening with denial or encouragement would have been transparently false to men who had been retreating for months. "These are the times that try men's souls" grants the situation before asking anything, which is what makes everything after it credible. Denying the defeats would be obviously false to the men who lived them
- State the relationship between Paine's style and his argument.
Show the full solution
The accessibility is not a simplification of a case made elsewhere in harder words. It is the case. Writing so that a farmer can settle the question asserts that the question belongs to farmers, and the choice of domestic and biblical images over Latin and legal citation is therefore a political act performed at the level of vocabulary. The plainness asserts that the question belongs to everyone