Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: “In America THE LAW IS KING.”

This lecture will commemorate the 250th anniversary of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. The presenter is Greg Jarboe, who studied Comparative Colonial History at the University of Edinburgh. Greg will explore how Paine’s 46-page pamphlet transformed American sentiment from seeking reconciliation with the British Crown to demanding independence by dismantling assumptions about monarchy. He’ll connect this ideological revolution to Acton’s military role, tracing how local Minutemen evolved from defending their “rights as Englishmen” to fighting for an independent republic during the Siege of Boston.

Jarboe, who is an Acton Exchange reporter and Finance Committee member, will also examine the tension between Paine’s revolutionary fervor and John Adams’s focus on building stable governmental structures. He’ll conclude that Common Sense‘s lasting legacy is Paine’s declaration that “in America THE LAW IS KING.”