Discussion

Discussion: The Spirit of ’76 June 6, Discussion: The Spirit of ’76 The Spirit of ’76 defines revolution in America that occurred in the year 1776 against colonial powers. It defined zeal and creativity with which the Americans attained independence, and formulated the meaning of democracy (Mirroff, Seidelman, Swanstorm & Luca, 2014) and relates to the two week readings.
The Declaration for Independence crowned ideals of the Spirit of Independence. It defined the ideals and declared freedom from the colonial authority. Key provisions of the declaration include the need for equality of people, need for authority, and the authority’s obligation to respect human rights. It also noted failure by the colonial authority to respect the fundamental rights, a factor that led to the Spirit of ’76 and declared liberty of the states. The writing therefore uses the Spirit of ’76 as a basis for its independence declaration objective (The National Archives, N. d.).
The Common Sense that Thomas Pain authored in the year 1776 called upon Americans to abandon dialogue and fight for independence. Even though Americans already laid some of its arguments down, the arguments reinforced the urge for a revolution as did the new arguments. Pain’s description of proponents of reconciliation such as men with self-interest who cannot be trusted, weak men, and men with prejudice are examples of argument that motivated revolution (Pain, 1776). Authored earlier in the year of the Spirit of ’76 and supporting existing ideas and proposing new ideas for revolution, the document is understood as a factor to the revolution.
The ‘ Common Sense’ is more convincing because it spearheaded the revolution, contributing to the Spirit of ’76, while the declaration just culminated the revolution.
References
Mirroff, B., Seidelman, R., Swanstorm, T. & Luca, T. (2014). The democratic debate: American politics in the age of change. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Pain, T. (1776). Common sense. National Humanities Centre Resource Toolbox Making the Revolution: America, 1763-1791.
The National Archives. (N. d.). Declaration for Independence. The National Archives. Retrieved from: http://www. archives. gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript. html.