Most of the independent nations in the world gained their independence through engaging in relentless wars with their colonizers. America is one of the nations that engaged in a concerted war with their colonizers in order to attain their independence. However, the America’s war was a special one; characterized by revolution and great historical events. For instance, the American Revolutionary war began in 1775 with the then growing tensions between residents of Great Britain’s 1 thirteen North American colonies and the colonial government ( Schenawolf, 2019 ). The war began mysteriously as a conflict between the British colonial ruler and the American rebels, who had unclear goals. Therefore, American Revolutionary war began on humble grounds and had no well-established goals despite its successful results of independence.
The British Colonial government was harsh to the Americans and nobody could dare speak publicly about the idea of independence. Any attempt to openly resist some of the harsh treatment of the American colonies from the government, such as heavy taxation and where the loyalties must lie, had adverse consequences from the British colonial government. Anyone trying to resist the colonial government faced jail without trial or even treason imprisonment ( Schenawolf, 2019 ). However, some patriots and great writers could express their concerns in clever and persuasive ways through thoughtful political writings. Two such thoughtful excerpts written to address the America’s grievances about the unfair treatment by the British Colonial government were Thomas Paine, Excerpts from “Common Sense” (1776) and James Chalmers, Excerpts from “Plain Truth” (1776). These thoughtful political writings marked the climax of the American Revolutionary war and greatly championed the America’s success towards attainment of her independence.
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Of the two thoughtful excerpts, “Common Sense,” by Thomas Paine (1776) is considered the most persuasive excerpt leading to the America’s Revolutionary flame for a number of reasons. The excerpt contributed greatly in changing the world ( Paine, 1776 ). Thomas Paine, the then England-born great political philosopher, wrote and published his excerpt titled “Common Sense” that displayed fiery but plain spoken case for fast and total isolation from Great Britain (Paine, 1776). Since the Paine’s book was the best seller in early 1770s, his excerpt was ready by thousands of people across the world and this created fear among the British rulers as the article criticized strongly the British rule. The use of the words “common sense” in Paine’s article would sound a contradiction to the British harsh rule. Therefore, the British government was triggered to start thinking of making hurry in granting Americans their independence. One best example of Paine’s statement that would make the British colony think of handing over independence to the Americans read , “Anyone sitting on the fence who encountered ‘Common Sense’ was probably no longer sitting on the fence” (Paine, 1776). This statement would thus make the British colonial government feel guilty and think of fastening the revolution.
“Common Sense” ushered in American independence. The American independence in turn triggered the French Revolution ( Schenawolf, 2019 ). French Revolution played a key role in spearheading the spread of democracy worldwide. Besides, Paine’s excerpt contained logic arguments and vivid imagery whose undiluted outrage would certainly remain alive and very compelling to the readers ( Schenawolf, 2019 ). For instance, his statement, “We have it in our power to begin the world over again” was not only compelling for the Americans to fight relentlessly for revolution, but also sounded persuasively to the British colonial government to grant the Americans independence with immediate effect.
Besides being persuasive in his work, Paine also used a good language that strongly majored on reconciliation. The best example here is his statement, “ As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgives the murders of Britain” (Paine, 1776). This particular statement prepared both the Americans to be ready to reconcile with their counterparts Britain at the wake of the independence. It is worth to note that Paine wrote his excerpt at the time when the British colonial government was preparing to hand over the power to the Americans. Therefore, Paine successfully prepared the two sides for smooth exchange of power, and this would later lead to the Americans Revolution.
Finally, Paine used his excerpt to speak strongly and persuasively against the war leading to shed of blood. This is seen in his statements, “But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families” (Paine, 1776). By these statements, Paine convinced the Britain to stop oppressing the Americans through forced labor, heavy taxation, and grabbing their productive land. In his excerpt, Paine first acknowledges Britain as the parent; and America as the child. Therefore, Paine convincingly persuades Britain to treat America as her child by giving Americans back their independency, which contributed to the Americans Revolution.
In his excerpt titled “Plain Truth,” James Chalmers (1776) too makes a number of reasonable points. James Chalmers is one of the American Loyalists who published their own rebuttals in response to Thomas Paine’s excerpt, Common Sense (Chalmers, 1776). Like the other American writers, Chalmers wrote his excerpt to oppose Paine’s opinions which he alleged were in line with the colonists who by then had great urge for war as the only solution to attainment of independence. The first point that Chalmers puts across is that true knowledge of our situation is an essential for our safety (Chalmers, 1776). Chalmers therefore, urges the Americans to fight for knowledge and drive away their ignorance, stating categorically that ignorance is the greatest enemy; and not the British colonial government as most Americans may think. Chalmers’ point of urging Americans to endeavor equipping themselves with knowledge contributed greatly towards Americans Revolution, as the Americans needed knowledge to rule to form self-government and later progressed well leading to the revolution experienced thereafter.
Chalmers further warns that every quiet method of peace has been ineffectual (Chalmers, 1776). Chalmers issues this statement at a time when most Americans are silenced by the British colonial power. Any attempt by any individual to raise voice and speak publicly against the British colonial government would lead to havoc. However, Chalmers urges the Americans to use clever methods of airing out their grievances against the British oppression. In another context, Chalmers states that he is opposed to reconciliation at the expense of independence. Here Chalmers is opposed to the idea posed by Paine that the Americans may reconcile with the British rule and have the British colonial government rule the Americans without oppression. The consequences of such a reconciliation would be detrimental than all the malice of the British (Chalmers, 1776). In this way, Chalmers contributes to Americans revolution through urging them to speak up and advocate for independence, rather than just a mere reconciliation.
In conclusion, the war that has been remembered as the American Revolutionary War had initially unclear goals. The American Revolution war began before independence and progressed well for a year and contributed towards independence, hence the name War of Independence. Since the war began at a time when the debate about where the loyalties must lie could be crude and violent, the war was fought through thoughtful political writings by great writers. Such great writers were Thomas Paine and James Chalmers. Of these two great writers, this article has established that Paine’s excerpt titled “Common Sense” was more persuasive than the Chalmers article titled “Plain Truth.” The main difference between these two excerpts is that while Paine wrote his article persuasively to urge for revolution in America to leading independence, Chalmers on the other hand wrote to criticize the Paine’s article. However, in both cases the articles have great ideas and they contributed in one way or another towards the Americans Revolution.
References
Chalmers, J. (1776). Excerpt from Plain Truth. P. 1-6.
Paine, T. (1776). Excerpt from Common Sense.
Schenawolf, H. (2019). Revolutionary War Journal. P. 1-18.
