Previous
Similes
3. Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs
Explanation and Analysis:
Common Sense is stylistically persuasive, following in the tradition of such political essays as John Milton's "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates," which defends regicide as a moral and justifiable action for a populace to take in the event that a monarch becomes tyrannical. Both Paine and his predecessors utilize classical modes of persuasive writing, which features some combination of pathos, logos, and ethos: appeals to emotion, logic, and ethics—or sources of credibility—respectively. Paine combines these elements to convince his readership that the English monarchy is both impractical and immoral.
In classical persuasive writing, particularly that influenced by Enlightenment philosophy, it is common to see the author begin with some appeal to reason or an assertion of impartiality in order to establish credibility. At the beginning of his third section on the "Present State of American Affairs," Paine makes one such appeal:
In the following pages, I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves.
In addition to asserting his own impartiality through reason, using logos as a persuasive technique, Paine further appeals to his audience by asking them to do the same.
Related Themes:
