these are the times that try men's souls the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country but he that stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman today we'll be looking at the rise of thomas paine thomas payne was an american journalist who authored two of the most influential pamphlets in colonial history we will see how he came to fame and the ideas that he embedded into his works i'm christian murray and this is the founders club [Music] before thomas paine was the man we all heard about he lived in england where he was trying to find his purpose he served as an apprentice to his quaker father then sailed the seas as a young privateer and finally returned to england where he established his own store while running the store he married mary lambert but tragedy would strike when she became pregnant and went into labor early thomas payne would lose his wife mary their baby and then soon after his store in the next few years he would once again work random jobs some political and married elizabeth alive some of these jobs went last due to his either not showing up or just not doing what he was supposed to do and like these jobs his marriage with elizabeth won last after the divorce he moved to london where he contrived to meet dr benjamin franklin with the guidance and help from dr franklin thomas payne chose to sell to the american colonies in 1774 seeing that there was nothing left for him in britain payne barely arrived in one piece he had fallen ill on the voyage and it took him six weeks to recover in march of 1775 he became a citizen of pennsylvania and was appointed the editor of the pennsylvania magazine and wrote in the american magazine in these papers payne brought a new political perspective by writing about the evils of slavery workers rights and the ideas of american liberty these papers became popular due to payne's pen and leadership of the magazine turning it in a new political direction around this time the american colony started to rebel against britain and the first continental congress was meeting to discuss reconciliation with the mother country they just wanted their rights back from britain that they felt entitled to as englishmen no one argued for full-blown independence just under a year later in 1776 and with the push from benjamin rush thomas payne would begin writing something that would change people's perspectives on the future continent he would write common sense and then the american crisis in common sense payne argues for american independence he was one of the first to do so and because of its treasonous nature he wrote it anonymously the pamphlet was written in simple passionate language and it applied to the common colonial man a collection of complex philosophical ideas that was only discussed for years by the elites common sense is broken up into four sections the first section is of the origin and design of government in general with concise remarks on the english constitution to begin payne works in the theoretical realm as he discusses the difference between society and government he writes society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness the former provides our happiness positively by uniting our affections the latter negatively by restraining our vices this section heavily relies on john locke's ideas on government saying that the government's sole purpose is to protect life liberty and property payne then adds that we should only judge a government by how well it does just that he moves on to a thought experiment telling the reader to imagine people cut off from the rest of the world as if in a state of nature these people would eventually form a society and because issues would inevitably arise they would have to form a government to deal with those issues payne then relies on montesquieu's ideas by saying that people would be much happier if they are responsible for the creation of laws that rule them in other words people would be happier having a democratic or representative form of government in the rest of the first section payne attacks the british form of government because it is riddled with contradictions has no checks and balances and has granted their king too much power payne would notice how much the americans disliked the british government but were oddly loyal to britain he writes this arises as much or more from national pride than reason the second section is titled of monarchy and hereditary succession payne uses john locke's argument on how we are equal in a state of nature and writes that the distinction between king and subject is unnatural he shows that the practice of monarchy originates from sin to back up this claim he uses pages and pages of the bible along with english monarchical history to show god's condemnation of kings and how his people always suffer under one he writes in short monarchy and succession have laid not this or that kingdom only but the world in blood and ashes tis a form of government which the word of god bears testimony against in blood we'll attend it this isn't just an attack on king george iii but on all monarchies the third section is titled thoughts on the present day of american affairs by the time that pain introduces this section he has trained the reader to not trust the british government and to want to do something about it he begins the third section by saying in the following pages i offer nothing more than simple facts plain arguments and common sense he states that america has outgrown britain and separation is not only achievable but inevitable he goes on to say that this is the time to separate because the americans are more than capable of taking care of themselves things will only get worse if independence happens in the future because america is and will be more so too large and complex to be governed by britain and finally britain is not protecting but attacking america he ends by detailing a proper government for america that would unite the colonies the fourth and final section is titled of the present ability of america with some miscellaneous reflections in this section he asserts that america has the ability not only to break free from britain but also become a strong nation rivaling any country that would dare try to swoop them up and dominate them independently he once again stresses that independence will eventually happen and that the continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day yet knows it must be done hates to set about it wishes it over and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity in summary his main arguments and common sense were first monarchy goes against god's will and that we should have a representative form of government that serves the people second it is a natural that a larger country is ruled by a smaller island that is an ocean away third america has a unique opportunity to be the beacon of freedom and to create a new nation that would remake the world over again fourth england is stunting the colony's growth for its own gain and america could be so much more on its own and fifth conciliation has not worked in the past and independence is inevitable common sense was an instant hit and it changed the national discourse from gaining back english rights to being a totally independent american country even though it was highly controversial in the colonies it would pave the way for thomas jefferson's declaration of independence and it set the colonies on a course that they could not turn away from in time the americans would have their victories along with their defeats payne's american crisis was a series of papers written from 1776 to 1783 to sustain the colonists motivations in 1777 the revolution was on the brink of death during the horrific winter at valley forge many troop enlistments were almost up and the british had just invaded philadelphia making it where the continental congress had to flee giving all their power to general washington the troops barely had anything to eat and clothing was scarce the soldiers would leave bloody footprints in the snow due to the lack of something as simple as shoes to make matters worse disease was rampant it's estimated that 500 soldiers died of exposure and disease washington had to do something to motivate the troops to stay and fight he had the opening lines of crisis read to his men these are the times that try men's souls the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country but he that stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman crisis worked and it motivated the troops to re-enlist and fight for their country crisis contained a lot of the same ideas that common sense established instead of just focusing on independence it really demonized britain and its loyalists here in the colonies calling them cowards it then justified the american cause by saying it was supported by god and then highlighted the bravery of the continental soldiers pain states tyranny like hell is not easily conquered yet we have this consolation with us that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph pain had successfully sparked the american desire for independence with common sense and he was able to sustain that desire with the american crisis pain was revolutionary in a multitude of ways and he pushed the americans to be more radical these pamphlets made him extremely popular and he was able to mix ideas that only the elites previously enjoyed with the common man with common language this brings us to today's question what would motivate you to go through horrendous situations to achieve a purpose let us know what you guys think in the comments below while he was very successful in the american revolution he would not be as successful in the next the french revolution on this episode we've seen the rise of thomas payne but in the next episode we'll see the fall of thomas payne well that's all we have for this video so if you like this video hit that like button if you like the channel and want to become a founder's club member hit that subscribe button and remember history is a good story that needs to be told so tell it [Music] you