Liberalism and Paine Liberalism vs the Classical Theory The American Revolution a The Pamphlet War Common Sense Paine s model of government I II III IV I The British do not have a liberal government Classical theory Classical theory based on Greek writings Example Aristotle older government Liberalism s current idea individual rights Classical theory man is inherently social Government natural forms socially necessary and natural The Classical Theory is less about why government and more of what form or kind of government 3 options for government based on number of people who govern A government of one person Monarchy one person who rules Very efficient and there is no debate or discussion This is vigorous Nothing to stop you Pro efficient and vigorous Con Tyranny slide into tyrannical government No one to stop you Does not mean good choices b Governing by the few Aristocracy Pro assume few people are best and the wisest Going to be smart and will figure things out Con Oligarchy only makes decisions for themselves Ruled by rich to get richer They do not care about others because they are only wanting to benefit themselves c Rule by the many Democracy Pro can see preferences of the many and will figure out what is best for the most of us Con Can end up with mob rule This will tear the government to shreds Too many voices and falls apart No matter what it will slide to the negative side of the government For example democracy is mob rule This will not be workable Classical theory believes that you need all 3 options a c Mixed regime Benevolent monarchy few aristocracy many polity Republic Malevolent despotism oligarchy democracy everyone thought British system was perfect because it had all 3 options not in egalitarian government because it was not created equal some have better ability than others did Liberalism individuals created equal by nature Colonists have to stop thinking of mixed regime to liberalism Thomas Paine believed in limited government natural rights liberalism who was against the classical theory Pushed colonists toward independence This does not help start the war thought it only pushes their mindsets to liberalism with the help of Common Sense Englishmen were loyal to monarch and parliament The war starts because the men were beginning to get frustrated which changes their relationship with Britain They wanted respect and loyalty from the British Grievances with the government imposed upon Example Stamp Act colonists mostly blamed the parliament and not the king with taxes and sending soldiers No Representation in the British parliament We want to send representative from colony to represent Geographic representation The British say that this is not necessary because parliament represents all of Britain Then we say virtual representation but the Brits still say that it is not necessary The men thought that they had no voice Pamphlet war political pamphlets were independently published not with the newspapers They were widely circulated through colonies and very popular Political discussion about what was going on The Englishmen fight out grievances It was Englishmen fighting Englishmen English girdle maker Thomas Paine born in England He doesn t ever make it to the colonies in Pennsylvania He arrives in 1774 and publishes Commons Sense in 1776 after all the hostilities begin Anonymous books are written Few people used their names Common Sense pushes us to independence and this changes the war it doesn t start it First 3 months sold 120 150 thousand copies There were 3 million people in the colonies 700000 were slaves People borrowed copies so everyone read it Colonists comfortable being British Common Sense pushes the what if we weren t British what if we were a republic representative government People represent you This puts forth what government you can have after II III IV We need government but we also need to limit it Some rights are protection of rights Locke s words The colonists help each other because it is better will more people and everyone is equal They say that the republican system will work better but there are 3 big problems A violates natural equality of man should be individual B it is absurd checking part in British system page 7 of the book Should be able to check each other s power but it doesn t c British system is too complex page 6 of book Not just the parliament It is too complex to figure out who is accountable if it isn t working who is responsible and how to fix it Can t figure out how to fix The simple form of government would work better You form government by all coming together under a tree small group Natural right to participate Direct democracy and not a republican Group is small A perfect government for Paine is a direct democracy You only move to a republic during necessity select members representatives in charge to govern Worried mostly about accountability and responsibility Frequent elections keep representatives close to you A frequent term limits frequent elections Government should be simple to know if you re well governed Nature in reason will tell you if you are well governed and it will tell you if you need a republic
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