Independence Thomas Paine style.

Editor,

In "Independence, British-Style" (4/2/2009) Adam Freedman wrote that "the Declaration [of Independence]'s defense of the right to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' conveyed nothing more radical than established British law." But this phrase was a direct reflection of the truly radical ideas Thomas Paine enumerated in his pamphlet "Common Sense."

Before "Common Sense" landed colonial aristocrats such as George Washington, James Otis, Joseph Warren, and Thomas Jefferson conceived of themselves as British subjects, some even toasting King George, and wanted nothing more than the "essential, inherent, and inseparable rights of [their] fellow subjects in Great Britain."

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" shocked and inspired all but the die-hard aristocrats among the colonists such that a rebellion by loyal subjects of the King was transformed into a revolution: breaking with Britain, forming a new government, and, above all, contemplating the possibility of equality and democracy as the basis upon which a nation of people govern themselves.

re: "Independence, British-Style " (7/2/2009)