#104 Common Sense

Detail from "Wha Wants Me," a caricature of Thomas Paine published in London in 1792. The scroll (visible here) reads “Rights of Man”/“Common Nonsense”/ “Equality of Property.” The bottle of ink is labeled “gall.” Not pictured is the bottom half where "Paine stands on the discarded scraps of the established British order—Protection [of] Property, Religion, National Prosperity, Magna Charta [sic], Loyalty, Obedience to the Laws, Morality, Happiness, Industry, Personal Security, Inheritance, Justice." Library of Congress via Smithsonian.
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Check for Understanding (5 min):

• Please note that this “Check for Understanding” is not graded. The purpose of this exercise is diagnostic: to help both you and me to track your comprehension of the material.
• Please do not reference the text or additional resources during this 5-minute exercise.

Preparation for discussion charter:

• Mr. Hall highlights some observations from the discussion survey last class. (2 min)
• In a group of 3-4, share your list of features of good and bad discussions from your journal. Listen for and record common themes that emerge as each partner shares. (4 min)
• Report back these themes as a class that we might try out together. Mr. Hall will record these on the board. (5 min)

Context: Tom Paine (3 min)

• Published 9 January 1776, demand for Common Sense produced 25 editions within a year.
• The 49-page pamphlet reached hundreds of thousands of Americans at time when colonial population numbered only 2.5 million
  • “Totally unprecedented in eighteenth-century America” (Eric Foner, Tom Paine and Revolutionary America, xxvii).
• One of the creators of a new political language:
  • Helped redefine “revolution” from its earlier cyclical meaning to its modern sense (“a dramatic and wide-reaching change” as Google Dictionary puts it)
  • Helped reimagine “republic” from a term of abuse to a political ideal

Introduce SOAPSTone (3 min)

• SOAPSTone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone) is the acronym behind a useful strategy for analyzing primary sources. This process will help you examine the different dimensions of a text, which can then be used to employ the text as evidence in discussion or writing.

Apply SOAPSTone (time remaining):

• Students access SOAPSTone Analysis of Common Sense (Google Doc) activity guide.
  1. First, review the lefthand column on the activity guide (for further elaboration see the SOAPSTone page on Discovering History) for a brief introduction to what SOAPSTone is and how to use it.
  2. Next, create an editable copy of this document for your own Google Drive by selecting “File” and then “Make a copy . . .”
  3. Complete the “Speaker” box together as a class.
  4. Read and annotate the excerpt of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense on page 156 in Foner.
  5. Use the chart to guide your analysis of the document. Complete the chart individually and then consult with a partner to compare your answers. Once everyone is done we can use the time remaining for discussion.

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Homework: Assignment #105