How the Revolution was Influenced by Thomas Paine

Essay by shaanHigh School, 11th gradeA+, September 2006

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The first successful English settlement on the American continent was established in 1607. And from then on, until 1732, thirteen English colonies settled on the continent. Great Britain was the first and so, the only country to "send" its people as colonists and to settle in that part of the continent. Actually, the colonists had two main reasons to leave England -- the first one was to make money. But the major part of the colonists was running away from religious persecutions. However they managed to develop their colonies and to prosper. But how did Great Britain regard this development? England, which was trying to extend its empire did not stay impassive in front of this new development of prosperity, and in need of money, it reacted first, by imposing taxes to its colonies. But, the colonists were not inert subjects of the crown and following different influences, they began to want their own liberty.

And so, by the way, they reached an inevitable war with England. Besides, if we could talk about a real society of the colonies from the time they settled to the Revolutionary war, in this essay, we will see how was this society and how it developed. Then I will try to analyse how Thomas Paine was influential and what were the other movements which influenced the birth of the revolution. Eventually, we will see to what extent these influences were efficient and what the changes were in American society after the revolutionary war.

The colonies were created by British people who came on the American continent mainly for religious and economic reasons. Indeed during the reign of Elizabeth I, the Protestant Church of England was firmly established as England's official religion. With the death of Elizabeth and the accession of James I, protest grew...