Common Sense Society and Class Quotes

In envisioning a future American society, Paine worries about making the number of voters too small. He thinks that the more people who can vote, the more a democracy will be able to represent the true values of its society. To have only a few voters would run the risk of recreating the British system, where only a handful of people get to call the shots.

It turns out that the same day Thomas Paine published his original Common Sense pamphlet, a Speech from the King of England came to America and threatened anyone who dared disobey England. Paine takes these treats as just more evidence of how America needs to develop its own society instead of listening to an old windbag who never earned a dime in his life.

When a country fails to reward those with the most talent or the best work ethic, it collapses into tyranny. And that's something that hurts everybody, according to Paine.