Patriot Road The Founding Fathers

Inquiring minds want to know… The Enlightenment ( ) – The Age of Reason, was a time when man began to use his reason to discover the world, casting off the superstition and fear of the medieval world. Rejects the idea of the absolute monarch All men have rights to life, liberty and property Embraces religious tolerance

Second Continental Congress tells Ben Betsy Ross Sam Adams Abigail Adams His

"These are the times that try men's souls." Jan. 10, 1776, Paine published Common Sense Sold 125,000 copies in the first three months (only 2.5 million living in America at that time) Donated all his profit from the sale of Common Sense to the Patriot cause

Main Arguments of “Common Sense”: 1.It was absurd for an island to rule a continent. 2.America was not a "British nation"; it was composed of influences and peoples from all of Europe. 3.Even if Britain was the "mother country" of America, that made her actions all the more horrendous, for no mother would harm her children so brutally. 4.Being a part of Britain would drag America into unnecessary European wars, and keep it from the international commerce at which America excelled. 5.The distance between the two nations made governing the colonies from England unwieldy. If some wrong were to be petitioned to Parliament, it would take a year before the colonies received a response. 6.Britain ruled the colonies for its own benefit, and did not consider the best interests of the colonists in governing them.

What was the big deal? Paine’s pamphlet allowed even the most common of commoner to enter the political dialogue: – It was written in a straightforward and simple way – Complex ideas were made tangible – Even the illiterate could hear it and understand it! It was “off the hook”…didn’t mince words – INDEPENDENCE NOW!