The King Must Die

Derek Byers English 11cp pd. 3

During the time of the Revolution, the individuals that wanted independence had to find a way to spread their idea to all of the colonists. What better way to do this than to use writing? In this time period, the colonists were very fickle. The author of some sort of writing would have to be very good to get the readers attention and then eventually have them on their side. This is what Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine did. Though they are not the only persuasive writers of their time, they very well might have been the ones with the most impact.

One of the most well known writers of the Revolution was Thomas Jefferson. In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson became the first American to put history to work to create a nation. He blazed a path that historians have been following ever since. Consider the difficulty Jefferson faced. Different events were happening in thirteen intensely local and isolated colonies among people with different traditions, languages, religions, and circumstances. Jefferson turned these scattered events into a national narrative. Behind these individual acts by agents of the British Crown aimed at different colonies was a single menace, Jefferson insisted, that should inspire these isolated colonies to discover and act upon what they shared as bearers of the traditional liberties of Englishmen. To introduce his stunning attempt to fit isolated events into a single narrative, Jefferson began by declaring that it was "necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds that have connected them with another." The colonists, Jefferson proclaimed, were "one people." Jefferson knew that the colonists were not "one people." But in order to invent one nation, Jefferson had to invent one people, and in order to invent one people Jefferson had to invent one history that might unite that "one people." It has been hard work ever since.

Another great author of that time period was Thomas Paine. He might not be as famous as Jefferson, or been directly involved with the politics of the Revolution, but his works played a key role in the United States becoming independent. In January of 1776 Paine published "Common Sense". It was a small book that was less than 50 pages long, but inside was Paine's blunt and forceful call for liberty.

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