Murica By Thomas Paine Essay

In 1791, Thomas Paine wrote the book Rights of Man, in which he expresses his thoughts on the unity of the American people. Walter Russell, however, claims America "has always been a division of man. There has always been the conqueror and conquered - the master and the slave - the ruler and the ruled - the oppressor and the oppressed. There has never been content nor unity. There has been only discontent and disunity". While in the United States there are people similar to Paine who strive for freedom and diversity, there are also those, as Walter Russell illustrates, who promote racism, violence, and disunity. Thomas Paine's viewpoint is mostly inaccurate because while there are times of peace, justice, and concord, there are far greater instances of oppression, privilege, and riots in America.

For many years Thomas Paine was the epitome of American histories greatest drawback. In American history there is always that one detail that doesn’t make it into popular curriculum. Whether it be the point of view from the loosing side of a war, to the secret dalliances of a popular politician, to the truth of a times social opinion- the American student is taught only so much. The most proper, popular material makes it in; along with any major facts too commonly known to ignore. Anything else is liable to fall to the wayside without enough support from historians or academia. There is always room for the improvement of materials taught; so said, it would seem there is much more to know about Thomas Paine than is

Thomas Paine’s characterization of America from his book, Rights of Man, does not completely hold true in today’s American society. His description of social class relationships as well as just government is currently not a reality for Americans. However, his description of diversity is something that we do have in America today.

All over the world, people hear about and strive to live the “American Dream.” In 1791 Thomas Paine, an intellectual revolutionary, believed that America was a diverse country that was accommodating for its people. In his book “Rights of Man” he says that in America “the poor are not oppressed, the rich are not privileged… and their taxes are few.” None of these ideals are completely true in America today.

Equality is something Americans strive to provide and maintain. It has become an integral and necessary part of our mosaic culture. Even now to the point that when people think of America, they naturally think of freedom and equality. People of many different races, disabilities and creeds have come to the United States seeking the impartiality upon which this country was founded. The institutions of this country have relied upon it, just as it was the created by the events in the laying of moral foundations. The expression of America's citizens plays an extremely significant role in the history of equality in American society. In the pursuit of equality and the "American Dream," people have authored inspiring

Upon turning on the news in America, the media is not reporting stories of wholeness and community, which one would expect upon reading Thomas Paine 's passage. It instead is littered with videos of protests and fights, church shootings, riots, racist graffiti, and other hate crimes. Paine has an idealistic view of America, and while Americans have the capacity to join together (as shown following the 9/11 terrorist attacks) we also have struggled throughout history with racism, and continue to today. At the time Thomas Paine wrote his passage, America was hard set in its racist ways, and has continued its history of oppression to modern day.

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

Thomas Paine was an English-born American political activist and revolutionary. In 1791 he published a book titled “Rights of Man.” In this, Paine describes the natural rights of the people and what may happen if governments choose not to protect these rights. In this he states that America is a place against all odds doesn’t have oppressed poor, and that the rich are not overly privileged. Thomas Paine’s characterization of America doesn’t hold true today because the government is no longer just and that poor people are oppressed.

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.

America. The greatest country. The strongest country. The one country most people want to live in. The country that provides help for the ones in need and free education for everybody. America has lived up to the ideals in the Declaration of Independence such as democracy, opportunity, but most importantly, liberty. In America, we are all born with liberty or as others call it, “rights.”

Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis was written as a sixteen-pamphlet sequence during the Revolutionary War era. Through his writing, Paine expresses his feelings over Britain’s control over the colonies. Essentially, his purpose is to rouse the colonists and soldiers to rise up to take further action against Britain’s tyranny. Therefore, The American Crisis utilizes Paine’s and God’s credibility to convince readers to take action, appeals to their logic through analogies, and evokes emotional rage from the colonists against the British.

Being an American means to represent the justice, natural rights, and freedom for an individual. Many citizens indulge in these terms and make their own personal lifestyles out of them. Throughout history Americans have constantly fought for their rights. Some battles lasting longer than others, for example, the fight with Great Britain lasted over 7 years. At that time, due to the length of the fight, many had begun to rebel and form organizations that went against Great Britain. Most of these groups all had a similar goal; helping the American colonies and the nation fight back against Britain. All those who were part of an organization felt that the relationship with Britain had been more harm than help. They had viewed it as more of a contract, since the colony’s voices and opinions were not heard, or at least not taken into consideration. As the American’s power drastically fell along with their moral, Thomas Paine, an English American activist and revolutionary, had delivered multiple speeches, together known as “Crisis No.1”, which gave the colonies the encouragement needed to continue their fight for rights.

“Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man”. Two men may follow the same religion but their beliefs and values will differentiate them from being a relentless man or a compassionate man. Although a man’s religious principles may follow what they believe their God wants, it doesn’t justify any crimes or villainous acts. In Thomas Paine’s essay African Slavery in America, he builds several strong arguments in order to convey the message that slavery is unjust and to persuade the Americans that we should not continue the horrid practice. Paine uses his knowledge of religion, humanity and law to strengthen his claim that slavery is immoral.

In the first section, titled Of the State of Nature, Locke starts off by talking about the different “states” every man is in. The first of these is the state of perfect freedom. This perfect freedom includes being able to decide for themselves what their actions are going to be. He also states that this perfect freedom give them the right to decide for themselves if and when they want to get rid of not only their own items/property, but also their persons, which at the time would include slaves. The second state that every man is naturally in, is that of equality. This state of equality means that no man has more power than the other. Every man, when compared to another, should be equal to each other without any doubt. The only time one man should ever have more power than another is if God himself presents a very obvious message that said man is of a higher rank than any other. Locke also states that when on man does have more power, and comes into contact with a criminal, he should only give reasonable punishment and proportionate to whatever crime was committed. John Locke truly believed that every man was equal, and should be treated as such.

In 1791 Thomas Paine wrote the book Rights of Man in which Paine illustrates his thoughts on the unity of the American people. Walter Russell, however, says America "has always been a division of man. There has always been the conqueror and conquered - the master and slave - the ruler and the ruled - the oppressor and the oppressed. There has never been content nor unity. There has been only discontent and disunity". While in the United States there are people similar to Thomas, who believe and strive for freedom and diversity, there are also those who Walter Russell illustrates that promote racism, violence, and disunity. I mostly disagree with Thomas Paine because, while there are times of peace; justice; and concord, there are far greater instances of oppression, privilege, and riots.