Comments on Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine

LIT 110: American Literature to Mid-1800s Learning Unit 4: Audio

Speaker: Rhonda Eakins

Both Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine were men of the Enlightenment. The selections that you read are excellent examples of the way many people of this era saw the world. I just want to make a few brief comments about each selection just to get you started.

I’m sure at some point you have all read parts of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, some of it may be so familiar that you really don’t notice what an incredible piece of writing and what a radical document it truly is. Think about it: these people were planning to throw off their own government. That’s a pretty radical thing to do. Yet it was important that they sound like reasonable people rather than a bunch of radicals. Jefferson does a remarkable job of sounding very reasonable in the Declaration. He offers solid reasons for their actions, he provides evidence for his reasons, and he appeals at all times to things like “rights,” “duty” and “necessity.” As you read through the document, you might want to circle all words that make him come across as a patient and reasonable person. The document also illustrates the Twin Theories of the Enlightenment. For instance, consider the following statement, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these rights are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” This is an excellent example of the Natural Rights of Man theory. Jefferson says that simply by virtue of being born as human beings, we should be able to expect certain things. (You might want to consider how different this is from Jonathan Edwards’ sermon). It is also interesting to think about why Jefferson included the “pursuit of happiness” as an essential human right. Jefferson bases his argument on the Social Contract Theory of Government. He says that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.” In other words, governments get permission to govern only by the consent of the people themselves, and if that government does not uphold its end of the contract, then the people should get a new government. Jefferson then goes into a list of specific reasons why they are taking such drastic action. Overall, this is a marvelous piece of persuasive writing.

Thomas Paine was also an incredibly good writer. He is best known for the pamphlets he wrote to encourage the troops during the Revolutionary War. In fact, one writer said that “Without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.”

The selection you read, however, is not one of his pamphlets but an essay describing what he believed and what he did not believe. This essay ticked a lot of people off – and it still can. Even if you thoroughly disagree with Paine’s position on religion, I do want you to see how this thinking is very representative of the era we’re looking at here. Notice, for instance, how much Paine emphasizes reason. For him, most religions are simply not reasonable because they are, he thinks, based on hearsay evidence. Revealed knowledge is just not the kind of knowledge that Paine finds credible. Because many of major religions are based on revealed knowledge, he says that he has a “right” not to believe them. He argues, “When I

Page 1 of 2 LIT 110: American Literature to Mid-1800s Learning Unit 4: Audio am told that the Koran was written in Heaven, and brought to Mahomet by an angel, the account comes to near the same kind of hearsay evidence and second hand authority as the former. I did not see the angel myself, and therefore I have a right not to believe it.” He is even harder on Christianity. He is equally harsh on Christianity, and he says that Christian belief “springs out of the tail of the heathen mythology.” So what does Paine believe? He says, “The only idea man can affix to the name of God, is that of a first cause, the cause of all things.” Furthermore, he believes that the only “word of God” is creation itself. Creation displays evidence of the divine. He asks, “What more does man want to know than that the hand or power that made these things is divine, is omnipotent?”

Follow Paine’s reasoning as you read through the essay again, and even if you disagree with his conclusions, try to understand the assumptions behind his thinking.

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