1. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Two Thomases, One Year:
1776
Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

2. “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Patrick Henry’s famous words from 1775 show how many Americans felt by 1776…Angry, frustrated, and ready to fight for economic, social, and political freedoms.

3. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
A pamphlet printed in early 1776 to convince colonists to break from Britain.
Several main arguments…

4. Paine claimed that having a king or monarchy is an unfair idea for government.
King George III

5. He asked why a tiny country should control much bigger colonies… …and wrote that England was too far away to provide effective government.

6. He said that the colonies were being used for Britain’s gain… …and he used the metaphor that America was a child that had grown up and was ready to leave its mother.

7. 500,000 copies of Common Sense sold and the Declaration of Independence was signed later that year…July 4, 1776.

8. The 2nd Continental Congress decided to break away from Britain in June and the “Committee of Five” was appointed to write it.
John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and especially Thomas Jefferson helped draft the Declaration of Independence.

9. As a result, British rule was officially ended and the United States of America was created…The Declaration is made up of three main parts:
Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated.

10. Part I: Discusses “Natural Rights” & how all people should have basic freedoms...“Life, Liberty, & Pursuit of Happiness”- These came from Enlightenment thinker John Locke’s Social Contract idea of “life, liberty, and property”-also in Declaration of Rights- and the Great Awakening concept that all are equal in God’s eyes.
John Locke

11. Part II: Lists dozens of grievances against King George III, such as taxation without representation, troops in the colonies, and disbanding colonial legislatures. Basically, it gives the reasons why the colonies are leaving.

12. Part III: As the United States of America, all ties are cut with Britain. New treaties and trade with other nations would follow.

13. …But first the US would have to gain its independence through war with Britain…The American Revolution.