Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 9

26. At this point in the Memorial there is an asterisk referring to a footnote citing “Common Sense” as the source for three quoted passages that follow (for the 2d and 3d, see note 28). The first passage, set off by quotation marks, was composed of two sentences designated I and II and a third ending with the words “exclusion of the rest” (p. 78–79). JA removed the quotation marks and inserted arabic numerals, but copied the three sentences almost verbatim. Although Thomas Paine's writings, particularly the section of Common Sense entitled “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs” (Phila., 1776, p. 29–60; Evans, No. 14954), clearly influenced Pownall's views regarding the future of American foreign policy and the com• {p. 194} mercial and political relationship between the United States and Europe, the editors have failed to locate the passage quoted here in any of Paine's work. This may indicate that in this instance Pownall paraphrased and combined several of Paine's observations (see Common Sense, p. 37–38), but in any case, both here and later (see note 28), some modification of Paine's statements was necessary since Common Sense was written in 1776, prior to the Franco-American treaties and the outbreak of war between Britain, France, and Spain.