Common Sense

“[…] a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.” 

The simple fact that Britain governed the American colonies for well over a century didn’t make it right and didn’t prove that it should continue. Those habits of thought faded as colonists found more to hate than to love about their overseas rulers. 

“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.” 

Common Sense is a call to arms in defense of liberty and democracy. It helped to ignite a crusade that has continued to this day, as oppressed peoples worldwide follow the American example, transform or overthrow dictatorial governments, and establish democratic systems founded on civil liberties.

“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices.” 

This is a foundational argument of Common Sense: that the only legitimate purpose of government is to protect a society from assault by those who would harm it for their own purposes. Government is otherwise a “necessary evil” that often gets out of hand.