Title: Competency Assessment: (CU2 M2) Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Course: SkillsCom HST 201 14.2 > Section: Credit Unit 2 Module 2

Find and read the first two sections, Introduction & “Some Writers. . .”, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.

1.  Compare Paine's criticism of England in this introduction to that of the Declaration of Independence (Webpage). Do both make the same kinds of complaints? Is one more penetrating and sweeping than the other?

2.  How does Paine turn the local struggle of American colonists into a larger struggle for human liberty? Is he correct in his characterization of England and the American Independence movement?

3.  The English had long prided themselves on the rights of the "freeborn Englishman." What does Paine point to in the English system that violates human freedom, and thus, "common sense"?

4.  Why does Paine focus on principles rather than on the misdeeds and crimes of particular officials and monarchs?