Thomas Paine is best known for his 1776 booklet Common Sense, which quickly became a very influential work in defense of America becoming independent from Britain. To this day, it remains one of the most widely read pieces of literature in America in proportion to the population. In the years following, he published numerous other anonymous pamphlets, continuously promoting reasons for independence amidst the ongoing Revolutionary War. Many of the arguments Paine posed were, however, lacking in the very concept expressed in the title of his most popular book. The following is a critique of these arguments from a loyalist point of view; that is, the perspective of one having remained loyal to Britain and the King despite the revolt.

One of Paine’s primary approaches to promoting the cause of American independence was as simple as painting British society in the most negative light possible. He used strong rhetoric to disparage the people of Britain, and convinced the reader that they and the loyalists here in America had nothing but evil intentions. In his various pamphlets, Paine constantly exaggerates the truth to benefit this narrative.

Another circumstance in which Paine’s arguments are faulty and nothing more than rhetorical devices to influence his readers was the point he reiterated on several occasions that America needed to be independent from our Mother country due to Britain’s constantly being at war. Paine stated that it was not fair for America to be dragged into Britain’s conflicts and that independence was the solution to this. The issue here is that America never was the victim of Britain’s conflicts in the first place. Britain, however, provided great assistance to America in its battle against the French in the Seven Years War. This very war is what triggered the chain of events that eventually led to the American rebellion that we now face; Britain was simply trying to recover financially from the war when it imposed new taxes on the colonies in the 1760s.

All this to say that, from the perspective of the loyalists, the arguments within Paine’s pamphlets contain exaggerated information and anti-British rhetoric used to deceive thousands of Americans into supporting the independence cause, when in reality, the truth is that Britain’s intentions aren’t tyrannical and need not be disparaged in such ways.🔹