In honor of Memorial Day,
a day when we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
from Google Images
Thomas Paine derives his insight of revolutionary consciousness based on traditions and historical practices. In his pamphlet, Common Sense, directed toward the “American Inhabitants,” Thomas Paine describes monarchies in general in this fashion:
Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.
Here, Paine empathizes with the common individual in his simple analysis of physical and moral distinctions of humanity, and he refers to the British aristocracy as “a new species.” He boldly reaches out to the consciousness of his readers, inspiring them to act on their natural right of the pursuit of happiness. In the words of Harvey Kaye, “As Paine saw it, American unity and vitality were themselves revolutionary imperatives - but not just for Americans” (65).
Kaye, Harvey. Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. New York: Hill & Wang,
2005.
