Response To A Group Reflection Paper Thomas Paine

Overall, this group project went very well and was completed on time due to the fact there everyone including myself assigned ourselves with a task role, relational role and from the start had individual roles present such as leader, compromiser, and gatekeepers in the group that made it

Thomas Paine was born to Joseph Paine and Francis Cocke Paine in January, 1737. Paine’s father was Quaker, and his mother was Anglican. The religious controversies haunted Paine throughout his life. His personal life ended in divorce and destitution. After barely avoiding debtor’s prison in 1774, a mutual friend introduced Paine to Benjamin. This introduction would change the course of Paine’s life. Franklin was immediately impressed with Paine and wrote a letter of introduction for him. Paine suffered physical illness on his journey that very nearly killed him, but he managed to survive the trip and arrived in Philadelphia September of 1774.

It is clear that throughout many years there has been an exemption of treatment when talking about the Native Americans in the United States. Supposedly every individual is endowed with the right of freedom, equality, and of seeking for happiness, but Native Americans were treated irrationally. From the discovery of America, to the founding fathers and settlers, the treatment and attitude towards Native Americans has been unsettling at best. The colonial policies toward the Native Americans affected the Indians in ways that changed their relationship between their tribes and the new nation. Cabeza de Vaca, Roger Williams, Cotton Mather, and Benjamin

In the years leading up to the revolutionary war, there was much conflict over the rights and wrongs of the British Empire towards the colonists. There were a few important factors and a few more minor factors that influenced patriots’ decisions to turn against their homeland and beloved monarch back in England. Thomas Paine’s childhood in England left a strong impact on him and influenced his mindset when he turned against the British. The unfairness of political and societal norms made him desire a new society that disregards social classes and allows more people to vote. Again, much of his decision to turn patriot, and his writings convincing most others to turn patriot was caused by life circumstances of being on the bottom rung of society and suffering the injustices of the government towards the common folk.

After the threat of a possible British invasion intended to disperse any thoughts of rebellion, the colonists’ opinion on revolution varied throughout the colonies. Thomas Paine genuinely believed fighting for freedom was the best choice for America, even though he understood it would be a hard task to undertake. Because of this, Paine used his writing skills to attempt to unite the colonies to support the fight for freedom. In order to reach the largest amount of people, Paine incorporated simple language into his writing.

Paine rejected the traditional ideas of government and had a vision for a future society that transcended the minds of the known world. He advocated independence from Great Britain and played a major impact in jump starting the American Revolution by elucidating the impracticalities of aristocratic hierarchy, established religion, and social injustice. However, Paine was more than just a wishful thinker. Thomas Paine was a utopian and promotes his utopian vision in his political writings in order to try and establish a possible future which is for the common good of humanity.

For this class project, I think my group worked well together on the assignments. We all saw we had responsibilities and were expected to do our own parts for each assignment we worked on. For each assignment, we would split it equally among us and used a tool called Google Docs so we were each on our own computers but working together on one file. Google Docs really made the process easier with reviewing all the information and having it all in one file. If any questions came up we had a group text to communicate when we weren’t on campus grounds for class.

This project in general was kind of fun. It’s better than some of the past assignments we've had. So it might be interesting if we had future assignments similar to this, because it involves a group & I like group work, because it gets done faster. My group was fair and on task. All of us did what we had to do, because we all care about grade. Since we all care about grade a lot, we completely focused on the assignment. No one was ever off task, and that was good, because we needed to get this assignment done. Another good things is, we never argued. I’m glad this happened, because if it did we would have never finished and that would have been bad. Throughout the whole assignment my group and I had perfect communication skills with one another

In his own time, Thomas Paine was correct in his assertion of America being a country of concord- we are a nation founded by individuals who had different ideas than what was taught in their homelands. They moved here to be free from judgment and preached equality for all men. America has its own unique culture, we are a “melting pot” of faith and ideas, along with a government designed to give equal opportunity. Now in the 21st century, a look at American life today shows that much of what Paine states is true; as new cultures make their mark on our country- they continue to add to the pot. However, despite the vast cultural diversity this country claims today, Paine’s views of the government working together with its people no longer holds

On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense. In the Pamphlet, Paine is supporting independence from Great Britain to the residents in the Thirteen Colonies. Paine’s pamphlet became popular and effective because of its clear and persuasive language. The advantage of the pamphlet was that is discussed why the thirteen colonies needed immediate independence from Great Britain. Paine greatly impacted the colonies because the uneducated people were now aware of the political world. As a result, the arguments and his motives plainly worded in his pamphlet made sense to everybody, including the people there were incapable of reading. Thus, the name Common Sense became the title of Paine’s pamphlet.

As a young child growing up through grade school I've always heard that Thomas Paine’s writing, “Common Sense,” was a very integral part of the founding of our nation. However, we never really expanded much past that. I cannot believe it has taken me twenty-five years for me to read this amazingly moving piece of literature! After reading through the collection of authors we were provided this week, I found J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s writing, “Letters from an American Farmer, Letter III What Is an American,” almost as equally compelling.

Thomas Paine once said, "Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'tis time to part." (Paine, Thomas.)

When the project was first introduced and we were out in a group together, we immediately discussed topics that we could present on. At the time, we did not choose a topic, but the following day we were able to find a topic that we all enjoyed researching and presenting on. Once we had a topic to present on, we split up the work evenly between us and started a google docs so we could post our notes and completed work online. This process was very dependent on every member of the group contributing to the end goal of presenting our finished project. For the most part we completed our respective tasks and was able to complete our presentation on why health care should be free. Our group did not communicate very much, this highlighted the interdependence

Being involved in a group project was a challenge for me, due to the fact that we had some communication problems between our group members in the beginning. First of all, we started with a brainstorming, analysing the opportunities of companies around Hendon Central. More than this, we agreed on the same firm and started our work. Within a teamwork, there are some challenges that occur such as remaining focused on a direction, splitting equally the work and choosing a good leader. Bearing all this in mind, I might say that we did our best during the presentation and we coped with the minor communication issues. From this experience, I realized that I am a good leader and I can manage efficiently a project.

One thing I realized from doing this project was that I was motivated. For example, group work helped me to stay motivated and focused on the topic even when the topic sometimes confused me. This is because group work allowed me to interact and discuss the topic with group members instead of just reading articles. Moreover, it forced me to be responsible to others and, frequently then, to do more and better work on the project than I might have done when only responsible