Thomas Paine's View Of America Essay

Thomas Paine was an optimistic philosopher and revolutionary. In his book, Right of Man he viewed America through a different lens. Paine joined America at a time of new beginnings, where a multitude of different ethnicities, languages, religions, and political views began to coexist in harmony due to the mutual desire for freedom. In the peaceful aspect of society, Paine’s book and contemporary America are not comparable. Although we still have this diversity among the people, we are lacking that unity Thomas Paine once experienced. Obviously, Americans cannot disregard the time gap between how Paine viewed America and how we today perceive America. Back then, when America’s population was rising and the government was emerging , Paine acknowledged the needs and wants of the country. He wrote, “constructing government on the principles of society and the rights of man” to notably recognize America’s central objective, which is, for the government to completely focus on society as a whole, while also acknowledging every man's rights. It has been said all American citizens are equal but this statement is not factual. Paine noted, “The poor are …show more content…
For Paine to claim “there is nothing to render them wretched, there is nothing to engender riots and tumults” is unimaginable in today’s society due to recent happenings. Lately, all we see is tumults, people fighting people. Recently, riots broke out in Charlottesville due to a disagreement of whether or not to take down a confederate statue. The protests were supposed to be amicable, but in America today it seems like nothing can be peacefully resolved. If Paine had seen the riots that had went on in Charlottesville, he himself would disagree with his own claim. If it was only true “that nothing would render us wretched”! The recent leaders of our government have poorly attempted to resolve this unfortunate state America has