Common Sense

Common Sense (1776), Revolutionary Era pamphlet.American independence had not yet been publicly discussed when on 10 January 1776 the Philadelphia printer Robert Bell published a forty‐seven–page pamphlet whose title page only hinted at its explosive contents: COMMON SENSE: addressed to the inhabitants of AMERICA, on the following interesting subjects: I. Of the Origin and Design of Government in general, with concise Remarks on the English Constitution. II. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession. III. Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs. IV. Of the present ability of America. Ominously, the epithet proclaimed: “Man knows no Master save creating Heaven, or those whom choice and common Good ordain.” The author, Thomas Paine, had only recently immigrated from England and initially remained anonymous. An expanded second edition went through at least thirteen printings; total sales, estimated at 150,000 copies within three months, eventually reached half a million. A German translation was published in February by the Philadelphia printers Melchior Steiner and Carl Cist. This wide distribution, together with newspaper excerpts, made Common Sense the single most influential pamphlet of the Revolutionary War.

In rousing agitator's rhetoric, Paine dispelled as a myth the “balanced,” liberty‐protecting character of the British constitution. Hereditary monarchy and aristocracy were absurd, Paine argued, and irreconcilable with the natural equality of human beings. The colonists could not seriously hope for a permanent reconciliation with “the Royal brute of Britain.” The day had arrived for them to declare their independence. Paine did not specify how the future republican American government should be organized, nor did he advocate social leveling. He argued only that Americans had good reason and the material resources to assert their independence, if only they would join in support of “the rights of mankind and of the FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES OF AMERICA.” Public and private reaction to Common Sense was overwhelming. The taboo had been broken, and debate did not cease until independence was declared.
See also Revolution and Constitution, Era of; Republicanism.

Bibliography

Gregory Claeys , Thomas Paine: Social and Political Thought, 1989.
Thomas Paine , Collected Writings, ed. Eric Foner, 1995.

Willi Paul Adams