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  1. How does Thomas Paine appeal to ethos and pathos in the first two paragraphs?

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    Exploring the Text: - How does Thomas Paine appeal to ethos and pathos in the first two paragraphs?
  2. After the publication of The Age of Reason, Paine was vilified as an unbeliever, an infidel, a blasphemer, and an atheist. His fall from grace commenced, and he died in poverty. We may look to the example of Samuel Adams, who wrote to Paine on November 30, 1802:

    I have frequently with pleasure reflected on your services to my native, and your adopted country. Your Common Sense, and your Crisis unquestionably awakened the public mind, and led the people loudly to call for a declaration of our national independence. I therefore esteemed you as a warm friend of the liberty, & lasting welfare of the human race. But when I heard, that you had turned your mind to a defence of infidelity, I felt myself much astonished, and more grieved, that you had attempted a measure so injurious to the feelings, and so repugnant to the true interest of so great a part of the citizens of the United States.

    Is Paine defending infidelity? Consider especially paragraphs 4, 5, and 9 of this excerpt. Notice that Adams writes eight years after the publication of the book he discusses (evidently without having read it). Why do you suppose the reaction to Paine’s last book was so strong?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - After the publication of The Age of Reason, Paine was vilified as an unbeliever, an infidel, a blasphemer, and an atheist. His fall from grace commenced, and he died in poverty. We may look to the example of Samuel Adams, who wrote to Paine on November 30, 1802:I have frequently with pleasure reflected on your services to my native, and your adopted country. Your Common Sense, and your Crisis unquestionably awakened the public mind, and led the people loudly to call for a declaration of our national independence. I therefore esteemed you as a warm friend of the liberty, & lasting welfare of the human race. But when I heard, that you had turned your mind to a defence of infidelity, I felt myself much astonished, and more grieved, that you had attempted a measure so injurious to the feelings, and so repugnant to the true interest of so great a part of the citizens of the United States.Is Paine defending infidelity? Consider especially paragraphs 4, 5, and 9 of this excerpt. Notice that Adams writes eight years after the publication of the book he discusses (evidently without having read it). Why do you suppose the reaction to Paine’s last book was so strong?
  3. Why does Paine state—along with what he believes—what he does not believe?

    Question

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    Exploring the Text: - Why does Paine state—along with what he believes—what he does not believe?
  4. How does Paine characterize “institutions of churches” (par. 8)? What is your response to his distinction between the institution of a church and religious belief?

    Question

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    Exploring the Text: - How does Paine characterize “institutions of churches” (par. 8)? What is your response to his distinction between the institution of a church and religious belief?
  5. In the final paragraph, Paine defines infidelity. Do you agree with his definition? Why or why not?

    Question

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    Exploring the Text: - In the final paragraph, Paine defines infidelity. Do you agree with his definition? Why or why not?
  6. In 2012, Louis Lapham, former editor of Harper’s magazine and current editor of Lapham’s Quarterly, said this about Thomas Paine:

    Paine was the most famous political thinker of his day, his books in the late eighteenth century selling more copies than the Bible, but after the Americans had won their War of Independence, his notions of democracy were deemed unsuitable to the work of dividing up the spoils. The proprietors of their newfound estate claimed the privilege of apportioning its freedom, and they remembered that Paine opposed the holding of slaves and the denial to women of the same sorts of rights awarded to men. A man too much given to plain speaking, on too familiar terms with the lower classes of society, and therefore not to be trusted.

    How accurately do you think Lapham characterizes Paine’s place in American history? Was Paine simply ahead of his time?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - In 2012, Louis Lapham, former editor of Harper’s magazine and current editor of Lapham’s Quarterly, said this about Thomas Paine:Paine was the most famous political thinker of his day, his books in the late eighteenth century selling more copies than the Bible, but after the Americans had won their War of Independence, his notions of democracy were deemed unsuitable to the work of dividing up the spoils. The proprietors of their newfound estate claimed the privilege of apportioning its freedom, and they remembered that Paine opposed the holding of slaves and the denial to women of the same sorts of rights awarded to men. A man too much given to plain speaking, on too familiar terms with the lower classes of society, and therefore not to be trusted.How accurately do you think Lapham characterizes Paine’s place in American history? Was Paine simply ahead of his time?