Common Sense | Page 4

Contents
INTRODUCTION

I. OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN
GENERAL, WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH
CONSTITUTION
II. OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION
III. THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN
AFFAIRS
IV. OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA, WITH SOME
MISCELLANEOUS REFLEXIONS
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INTRODUCTION
PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not
YET sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; 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.
As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling
the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might never have
been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry)
and as the King of England hath undertaken in his OWN RIGHT, to
support the Parliament in what he calls THEIRS, and as the good
people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination,
they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both,
and equally to reject the usurpations of either.
In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every thing
which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to
individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the worthy, need not
the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are injudicious,
or unfriendly, will cease of themselves unless too much pains are
bestowed upon their conversion.

The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.
Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but
universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind
are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are interested.
The laying of a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, declaring War
against the natural rights of all Mankind, and extirpating the Defenders
thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the Concern of every Man to
whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of which Class,
regardless of Party Censure, is THE AUTHOR
POSTSCRIPT TO PREFACE IN THE THIRD EDITION
P. S. The Publication of this new Edition hath been delayed, with a
View of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any Attempt to refute
the Doctrine of Independance: As no Answer hath yet appeared, it is
now presumed that none will, the Time needful for getting such a
Performance ready for the Public being considerably past.
Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the
Public, as the Object for Attention is the DOCTRINE ITSELF, not the
MAN. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected
with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the
influence of reason and principle.
Philadelphia, February 14, 1776.
OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL,
WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to
leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only
different, but have different origins. 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. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates
distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best

state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for
when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A
GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT
GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we
furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the
badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of
the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear,
uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver;
but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part
of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this
he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case
advises him out of two evils to choose the least. WHEREFORE,
security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably
follows that whatever FORM thereof appears most likely to ensure it to
us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is preferable to all
others.
In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of
government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some
sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the