Thomas More Research Paper

Lots of times in life people have to make a decision that might not benefit themselves, but they know it is not overall the best choice. This is what happened with Thomas More. He was ordered to sign an oath which would make Henry VIII the head of the English Church, and chose to remain silent. By doing this in England at the time, More was sent to prison and wouldn’t be released unless he signed the oath. When More stayed silent, he was tried and found guilty fairly quickly, and was put to death. He knew what could happen to him all along, but stuck with his original decision because he was thinking of more than himself, but all of England. Things went as bad as possible for Thomas More, but I agree with what he did. As I mentioned …show more content…
He is extremely Catholic and this oath would make Henry VIII the leader of the English Church, making the Pope a non factor. This is one of the major reasons More doesn’t agree with the oath, because it goes directly against everything he believes in. More says during his final stand in court “It is, therefore, insufficient in law... to charge any Christian to obey it. And more than this... the immunity of the Church is promised both in Magna Carta... and in the King's own coronation oath”, talking about the oath. This quote clearly shows how faithful he is as a Christian. He is saying that it would be wrong for any christian to obey this law. There are thousands of christians in England who took the oath who also aren’t going to obey it, they will just act as if it doesn’t exist, but More can’t do this. He realizes that his is a dead man either way at this point in the trial, so we finally hear what everyone has been assuming. Admitting his disgust with the oath is a reason More died, but he knew what he was walking into and tried to influence other christians to follow his lead. I wanted More to be acquitted the whole time, and when his final stand was a failure, it made me root for him even