In his excerpt Common Sense, Thomas Paine conveys his opinion on his nations independence from Britain. To convey his opinion, he uses many rhetorical strategies such as ethos, logos and pathos,diction and syntax. Through these devices Paine presents his belief that the United States should strive for its independence from England. After all, England was only utilizing the colonies for their own benefit as said on page 328,"for the benefit of their own trade and dominion”. He is an excellent writer who demonstrates persuasion in his work while utilizing a myriad of simplistic rationales and arguments to convey and convince the reader to believe in his ideas. He is trying to persuade people to disregard their prior allegiance to the King George because he is corrupt, and also to help support a revolution of the American colonies. He presented the people of the British colonies with a potential dilemma ; either they break free from England or live the rest of their lives under their oppression. This false dilemma puts the colonists in a controversial position because to the colonists, both choices have their faults. According to Paine, he believed that it was the right and duty of Americans to break away from the tyrannical rule of Britain.
Thomas Paine was trying to get across the fact that even though the colonies were reliant on the British for a long time, it does not give them an obligation to remain under their rule, especially after growing so much and becoming self-reliant. He really makes these ideas "stick" through his use of logos which appeal to his audience, “In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits of three hundred and sixty miles and carry our friendship on a larger scale”. He makes an accurate statement by basically saying that America is larger than Britain, therefore we could rebel from its ruling, with some help from our European friends“…we claim brotherhood with every European Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment...”.
Thomas Paine was trying to get across the fact that even though the colonies were reliant on the British for a long time, it does not give them an obligation to remain under their rule, especially after growing so much and becoming self-reliant. He really makes these ideas "stick" through his use of logos which appeal to his audience, “In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits of three hundred and sixty miles and carry our friendship on a larger scale”. He makes an accurate statement by basically saying that America is larger than Britain, therefore we could rebel from its ruling, with some help from our European friends“…we claim brotherhood with every European Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment...”.