Common Sense

Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense in the winter of 1775–76 and published it anonymously on January 10, 1776. It was an immediate sensation. Within three months, 100,000 copies had been printed. By the end of the year, the estimate was 500,000 — in a population of roughly three million, a penetration that no political document has matched before or since.

What made it so effective was not the argument — others had made similar arguments — but the language. Where previous writing on independence addressed itself to lawyers and gentlemen fluent in constitutional precedent, Paine addressed himself to everyone. He used plain words. He used the Bible (which his readers knew) to argue against monarchy. He used simple arithmetic to show that a small island could not indefinitely govern a large continent. He made the case for independence feel not like a radical proposition but like obvious common sense.

The pamphlet is divided into four sections. The first argues, from first principles, against hereditary monarchy as a form of government. The second argues that the English constitutional system is not the brilliant achievement its admirers claimed but a contradiction waiting to produce exactly the crisis it was producing. The third makes the case for independence at that specific moment — arguing that the colonies were better positioned to win independence now than they would ever be again. The fourth addresses the remaining objections.

Reading it now, what strikes you is the confidence. Paine wrote as if the case were already closed and he was simply explaining it to people who hadn’t caught up yet. That confidence was persuasive in 1776 and it is still persuasive. He was right.