Thomas Paine Declaration Of Independence Summary

The Revolution was initially started because of poor representation of the thirteen North American colonies by British parliament, which forced mandatory conformity to the king during the later half of the eighteenth century. Majority of the population of the colonies were opposed to separating from Great Britain, since they were already comfortable with living under British rule. Many colonists did not want to separate from Great Britain because then there would be casualties from war, economic instability and stricter laws. This was on the most part true, considering the fact that separation will not only allow equal rights to prosperity and cease from oppression, but will improve the overall quality of life for colonists in almost every …show more content…
The piece by Paine analyzes four critical issues present in colonial society during the years leading up to the Revolutionary War identifying that hereditary rule is not just and fails to be a credible and effective standard on which power originates from. The document also appeals significantly to whom Paine considers “the common man,” which is the typical colonial individual working as a middle class tradesman. Paine’s primary target audience was the working people, who were not wealthy, who lacked connections to the monarchy, and those who composed the majority of the colony’s population. He sought to reveal the true hardship that Parliament inflicted on the hard working colonists who were faced with the tackle of paying ridiculous taxes that served little benefit for them. Although his approach was irrational to the social norms of the eighteenth century, it was found socially appealing to the colonists due to its similarity in content with John Locke’s Second Treatise of