Common Sense How does this document reflect Enlightenment

Common Sense

• How does this document reflect Enlightenment values? • This document reflect Enlightenment values because it challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain.

• What is the background information on this document? It’s a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775– 76 that inspired p independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate se Thirteen Colonies were the British Colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America founded between 1607 (Virginia) and 1733 (Georgia) that joined together to declare independence in 1776.

• How did/does this document influence American government? Common Sense had a profound influence on American opinion, and it helped convince Americans that they were not simply fighting for home rule or for their rights as English people. Instead they were fighting for essential human rights that could only come with independence. The Americans could make a break with the past, and with the British empire, and they should do it immediately.

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