John Locke, an English philosopher, once said, “All men are naturally in a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of Nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man.” A person’s idea of freedom can be completely different from someone else’s even if both people live in the same country. One person can think of freedom as being economically independent and another person can think of freedom as being unconstrained by unnatural boundaries and being able to move freely from place to place without consequences. Is freedom to be seen as being religiously unrestricted from practicing one’s religion or is it to be unrestrained
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Paine was an English writer whose writings influenced the American Revolution and later aided in the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Paine could be considered a key figure for both the American and French revolutions because his writing sparked the flame that kept the fight for freedom alive. In 1774, Paine met Benjamin Franklin who advised him to move to America. He arrived in Philadelphia on November 30, 1774 and began working for the Pennsylvania Magazine two months later. Paine began writing articles under various names in order to protect himself from harm. In one of his first articles he expressed his disapproval of the African slave trade and the name of that article is African Slavery in America. Paine’s arrival to America helped advance his general views and thoughts on revolution and injustice and the purpose of it all was to awaken the general public to understand the situation it was going through and to make a decision on rather it would continue to be controlled by the British government and royal monarchy or fight for freedom. Paine’s pamphlet called “Common Sense”, which was printed on January 10, 1776, is the writing I will focus on to discuss Paine’s stance on the nature of freedom. “Common Sense” was written in a simple way so that the common man could understand what was being stated. The pamphlet brought the issue of the British government’s tyrannical ways to the streets …show more content…
The purpose of the Declaration of Independence was to inform other nations on why the colonies desired to separate themselves from the tyranny of Great Britain. Also, the document was written for the purpose of gaining support from the other nations to join the fight for America’s freedom. “Jefferson believed in a "wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another but which otherwise left them free to regulate their own affairs.” (millcenter.org) Therefore, a government that did more than preserve the lives of its citizens was a government that interfered with a person’s freedom. A person having the authority to control the daily activities of his life is a person that is considered to have freedom. Governments are to be put in place to protect a person’s rights and freedom not to destroy and conquer. As stated in the Declaration of Independence, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” (Norton Anthology, pg.340) The British government rule over the American colonies was not a consensual agreement, it was something that was forced upon the early American people and those people had no authority over
Paine was an English writer whose writings influenced the American Revolution and later aided in the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Paine could be considered a key figure for both the American and French revolutions because his writing sparked the flame that kept the fight for freedom alive. In 1774, Paine met Benjamin Franklin who advised him to move to America. He arrived in Philadelphia on November 30, 1774 and began working for the Pennsylvania Magazine two months later. Paine began writing articles under various names in order to protect himself from harm. In one of his first articles he expressed his disapproval of the African slave trade and the name of that article is African Slavery in America. Paine’s arrival to America helped advance his general views and thoughts on revolution and injustice and the purpose of it all was to awaken the general public to understand the situation it was going through and to make a decision on rather it would continue to be controlled by the British government and royal monarchy or fight for freedom. Paine’s pamphlet called “Common Sense”, which was printed on January 10, 1776, is the writing I will focus on to discuss Paine’s stance on the nature of freedom. “Common Sense” was written in a simple way so that the common man could understand what was being stated. The pamphlet brought the issue of the British government’s tyrannical ways to the streets …show more content…
The purpose of the Declaration of Independence was to inform other nations on why the colonies desired to separate themselves from the tyranny of Great Britain. Also, the document was written for the purpose of gaining support from the other nations to join the fight for America’s freedom. “Jefferson believed in a "wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another but which otherwise left them free to regulate their own affairs.” (millcenter.org) Therefore, a government that did more than preserve the lives of its citizens was a government that interfered with a person’s freedom. A person having the authority to control the daily activities of his life is a person that is considered to have freedom. Governments are to be put in place to protect a person’s rights and freedom not to destroy and conquer. As stated in the Declaration of Independence, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” (Norton Anthology, pg.340) The British government rule over the American colonies was not a consensual agreement, it was something that was forced upon the early American people and those people had no authority over