Why Government?: An Interpretation of Thomas Paine's Legacy

            

            Through “Common Sense”, Thomas Paine created one of the documents that served as base for the overthrow of British government in North America and the institution of a new one, that of the United States of America. Specifically, the section of the pamphlet named “OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL”, guides us through the very reasons for which a government should exist. This section of the pamphlet exposes, lists, and explains the very principles that founded the United States.

            Paine starts off this section of the pamphlet by explaining what a government is in essence, why it comes to be, and what its true design is. One of the first definitions of government we see is that it “is but a necessary evil” (Paine, “Common Sense, 3). Men would prefer to do everything on their own but rather find it “necessary to surrender a part of one’s property to furnish means for the protection of the rest” (Paine, 3). In other words, Paine states that men would naturally like to accomplish everything alone without help but rather “the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another, who in turn requires the same” (Paine, 3).

It is also discussed that since moral virtue and the essence of goodness cannot govern the world, the people therefore institute a government in order to defend their common interests. Such is evidenced by Paine as he says that, “Here is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world” (Paine, 5). The goals of this government, according to Paine, is to assure the “freedom and security” (Paine, 5) of the people.

Finally, the author ends with an explication of how the monarchical form of government being used by the Kingdom of Great Britain is in no way democratic or just. Although Britain makes the world believe that they are just, they are actually not and merely create an illusion of being so. Regardless of the fact that the colonists are given the illusion of having a say in governmental policy, the King still remains King. This is perfectly evidenced by the following quotation; “the will of the king is as much the law of the land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead of proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the people under the more formidable shape of an act of parliament.”

Thus, as Paine explains the basic ideals of how a government should be formed and how monarchical practices should be avoided, he creates a basis for the country to be set up once Independence is declared. For the most part, the Declaration of Independence signed by the founding fathers on July 4^th, 1776, exemplifies the ideas originally presented by Thomas Paine in his pamphlet. 

One of the author’s key themes in this pamphlet is that of government by the consent of the governed. This involves two factors; Firstly– That men create government and thus the power of government derives from men; Secondly­– That, consequently, government must always act on behalf of the will and petitions of the people. This leads Paine to state that “the elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the electors” (Paine, 6) and that they are “supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those who have appointed them” (Paine, 6).

This legacy is epitomized in the text of the Declaration of Independence. The introductory statements of the Declaration make reference to this ideal presented by Paine as it states, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” (Declaration of Independence, 1). In other words, Americans are recognizing that the legitimacy of a government derives from the people’s consent of the government and that to maintain its legitimacy, it must continue to act in favor of the will of the people. Should the “Form of Government become destructive of these ends” (Declaration of Independence, 1) or, as Paine similarly stated, “form an interest separate from the electors” (Paine, 6) then “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government” (Declaration of Independence, 1).

Finally, just as the final pages in the first section of “Common Sense”, the bulk of the Declaration of Independences focuses in criticizing the monarchical form of government in Britain and listing the grievances it therefore brought into the colonies. The founding fathers so said “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States” (Declaration of Independence, 1). This led the colonists to explicitly oppose a monarchical government by stating that “A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

This transcendental political pamphlet not only ideologically designed the basis of an efficient and just government, but also was adopted by the colonists to claim their sovereignty from their mother country. The ways of government listed in the pages of this pamphlet have successfully laid out the governmental structure of the longest lasting democratic republic in the history of the world. Paine’s ideals served as a model to shape the newly created country and still dictate the way we act in politics to this very day.