#103 Common Sense

Thomas Paine (right) and his pamphlet, Common Sense (left), published 1776.

Quiz (depending on section).

CIQ report back (depending on section).

Brief discussion: When did the American revolution begin?

Brief intro to Tom Paine

• Common Sense was a pamphlet published 9 January 1776; went through 25 editions within a year
• Reached hundreds of thousands of Americans at time when colonial population numbered only 2.5 million
  • “Totally unprecedented in eighteenth-century America” (Foner in Tom Paine and Revolutionary America, 1976).
• Paine was one of the co-creators of a new political language:
  • Helped redefine “revolution” from cyclical in nature to its modern sense
  • One of first writers to save “republic” from being a term of abuse

SOAPSTone analysis

• ​​​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.
• Students access SOAPSTone Analysis of Common Sense (link to Google Doc) activity guide.
• Activity procedure:
  • Use the chart to guide your analysis of the document. Complete the chart individually and then consult with a partner (or two) to compare your answers. Once everyone is done we can use the time remaining for discussion.
  • Read and annotate the excerpt of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense on page 156 in Foner.
  • Complete the “Speaker” box together as a class.
  • Next, create an editable copy of this document for your own Google Drive by selecting “File” and then “Make a copy…” After you make the copy, be sure to place it in your shared HH250 class folder.
  • First, review the lefthand column here and/or the SOAPSTone page on Discovering History for a brief introduction to what SOAPSTone is and how to use it.

Homework #104.

Notes:

• HH250-01 notes prepared by Scott Lewis.
• HH250-09 notes prepared by Gemma Tung.
• HH250-10 notes 
• HH250-15 notes