Difference Between Common Sense And The Declaration Of Independence

Founding Documents Comparison Paper Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence were the start of a new beginning for the colonists in America. Freedom from their negligent mother country, England, and a brand new government for the country. Both Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence transformed our country and greatly impacted the government and how we live today. Common Sense, written by Thomas Paine, was a huge hit in the colonies. It could easily be compared to the recent top sellers, including The Hunger Games and The Fault in our Stars. Essentially every colonist had heard of, if not read the lengthy pamphlet. This pamphlet starts off with addressing the issues involving rule by heredity. Hereditary rule is when …show more content…
This Declaration of Independence makes America different from its enemies. There are four main points to the Declaration of Independence; equality, consent, duty, and the 26 convictions of the King of England. Equality is very important in both founding documents. For Thomas Paine, equality meant voting on their ruler instead of hereditary rule. In the Declaration equality is freedom to think, and equally protected rights such as, life, liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness. This idea of equality leads to the ideas of power. Power should never be given to a single human being because, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). This is where the limited government comes into play. A limited government is used to control, and put a cap on, complete power. Consent is also a big factor in both Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence. The basis of the idea of consent was the American colonies being independant, and not using England at all. The founding was the only thing that needed to be unanimous, everything else could be settled with a debate or meeting of the Congress. In Common Sense, consent was used for pointing out the flaws in England 's government system. In this argument, Paine dismisses the “perfect” British government system, along with the English …show more content…
As Paine states, "Independence was a doctrine scarce and rare, even towards the conclusion of the year 1775..." ("Thomas Paine and the Declaration of Independence.") This is important because, independence was only talked of “behind closed doors”. No one dared speak of something so profound so publicly. Until Common Sense was published, no one even considered the idea of freedom from England. Pauline Maier, an American Revolution historian writes, "But throughout 1775 every Congressional petition, address or declaration...sought a settlement of their differences with the Mother Country not Independence". (American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence by Pauline Maier). In the Declaration of Independence it shows that the men believe this is truly the best option. They wrote out the declaration after many tries to make peace with the British. Obviously the peace ideas did not work, and they had no other options. In the beginning of the Declaration the Constitutional Congress clearly states the reason for them wanting independence. “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature 's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which