Common Sense is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776,[1] at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation.

Published in Philadelphia, Common Sense was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time, 2.5 million, it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history.[2] As of 2026, it remains the all-time best-selling American title and is still in print today.[3][verification needed]

Common Sense made public a persuasive and impassioned case for independence, which had not yet been given serious intellectual consideration in Britain or the American colonies. In England, John Cartwright had published Letters on American Independence in the pages of the Public Advertiser during the early spring of 1774, advocating legislative independence for the colonies. In Virginia, Thomas Jefferson penned A Summary View of British America three months later. Neither went as far as Paine in proposing full-fledged independence.[4] Paine connected independence with common dissenting Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American political identity, and structured Common Sense as if it were a sermon.[5][6] Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as "the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era."[7]

The text was translated into French by Antoine Gilbert Griffet de Labaume in 1791.[8]

Publication

Thomas Paine depicted in a mezzotint by James Watson, 1783

Paine arrived in the American colonies in November 1774, shortly before the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Though the colonies and Great Britain had commenced hostilities against one another, the thought of independence was not initially entertained. Writing in 1778 of his early experiences in the colonies, Paine "found the disposition of the people such that they might have been led by a thread and governed by a reed. Their attachment to Britain was obstinate, and it was, at that time, a kind of treason to speak against it. Their ideas of grievance operated without resentment, and their single object was reconciliation."[9]

Paine quickly engrained himself in the Philadelphia newspaper business, and began writing Common Sense in late 1775 under the working title of Plain Truth. It began as a series of letters to be published in Philadelphia papers. It grew too long and unwieldy to publish as letters, leading Paine to select the pamphlet form.[10]

Benjamin Rush recommended the publisher Robert Bell, promising Paine that although other printers might balk at the content of the pamphlet, Bell would not hesitate or delay its printing. The pamphlet was first published on January 10, 1776; Paine was 39 years old and had only lived in America for fourteen months.[1] Bell zealously promoted the pamphlet in Philadelphia's papers, and demand grew so high as to require a second printing.[11] Paine, overjoyed with its success, endeavored to collect his share of the profits and donate them to purchase mittens for General Montgomery's troops, then encamped in frigid Quebec.[12]

When Paine's chosen intermediaries audited Bell's accounts, they found that the pamphlet actually had made zero profits. Incensed, Paine ordered Bell not to proceed on a second edition, as he had planned several appendices to add to Common Sense. Bell ignored that and began advertising a "new edition."[13]

The advertisement backfired, despite Bell's hopes that it would persuade Paine to continue using his services. Paine secured the assistance of the Bradford brothers, publishers of The Pennsylvania Evening Post, and released his new edition, featuring several appendices and additional writings.[14] Bell began working on a second edition. This set off a month-long public debate between Bell and the still-anonymous Paine, conducted within the pages and advertisements of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, with each party charging the other with duplicity and fraud. Paine and Bell published several more editions through the end of their public squabble. [citation needed]

The publicity generated by the initial success and compounded by the publishing disagreements propelled the pamphlet to incredible sales and circulation. Following Paine's own estimate of the pamphlet's sales, some historians claim that Common Sense sold almost 100,000 copies in 1776.[15] According to Paine, 120,000 copies were sold in the first three months. One biographer estimates that 500,000 copies were sold in the first year, in both America and Europe, predominantly France and Britain. Another writes that Paine's pamphlet went through 25 published editions in the first year alone.[7][16] Some historians dispute these figures as implausible because of the literate population at the time and estimated the far upper limit as 75,000 copies.[17][18]

Aside from the printed pamphlet itself, there were many handwritten summaries and whole copies circulated. Paine also granted publishing rights to nearly every imprint which requested them, including several international editions.[19] It was immensely popular in France, where it was published without its diatribes against monarchy.[20] At least one newspaper printed the entire pamphlet: the Connecticut Courant in its issue of February 19, 1776.[21] Writing in 1956, Richard Gimbel estimated, in terms of circulation and impact, that an "equivalent sale today, based on the present population of the United States, would be more than six-and-one-half million copies within the short space of three months".[19]

For nearly three months, Paine managed to maintain his anonymity, even during Bell's potent newspaper polemics. His name did not become officially connected with the independence controversy until March 30, 1776.[22] Paine never recouped the profits that he felt were due to him from Bell's first edition. Ultimately, he lost money on the Bradford printing as well, and because he decided to repudiate his copyright, he never profited from Common Sense.[citation needed]

Sections

The first and subsequent editions divided the pamphlet into four sections.

I. Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution

"Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinction. The first is a patron, the last a punisher."

— Thomas Paine[23]

In his first section, Paine related common Enlightenment theories of the state of nature to establish a foundation for republican government. Paine began the section by making a distinction between society and government and argues that government is a "necessary evil." He illustrates the power of society to create and maintain happiness in man through the example of a few isolated people who find it easier to live together rather than apart, thus creating society. As society continues to grow, a government becomes necessary to prevent the natural evil Paine saw in man.

To promote civil society through laws and account for the impossibility of all people meeting centrally to make laws, representation and elections become necessary. As that model was clearly intended to mirror the situation of the colonists at the time of publication, Paine went on to consider the English constitution.

Paine found two tyrannies in the English constitution: monarchical and aristocratic tyranny in the king and peers, who rule by heredity and contribute nothing to the people. Paine criticized the English constitution by examining the relationship between the king, the peers, and the commons.

II. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession

The second section considers monarchy first from a biblical perspective and then from a historical perspective. He begins by arguing that since all men are equal at creation, the distinction between kings and subjects is a false one. Paine then quotes a sequence of biblical passages to refute the divine right of Kings. After citing Matthew 22:21, he highlights Gideon's refusal to heed the people's call to rule, citing Judges 8:22. He then reproduces the majority of 1 Samuel 8 (wherein Samuel relays God's objections to the people's demand for a king) and concludes: "the Almighty hath here entered his protest against monarchical government..."

Paine then examines some of the problems that kings and monarchies have caused in the past and concludes:

Paine also attacks one type of "mixed state," the constitutional monarchy promoted by John Locke, in which the powers of government are separated between a Parliament or Congress, which makes the laws, and a monarch, who executes them. The constitutional monarchy, according to Locke, would limit the powers of the king sufficiently to ensure that the realm would remain lawful rather than easily becoming tyrannical. According to Paine, such limits are insufficient. In the mixed state, power tends to concentrate into the hands of the monarch, eventually permitting him to transcend any limitations placed upon him. Paine questions why the supporters of the mixed state, since they concede that the power of the monarch is dangerous, wish to include a monarch in their scheme of government in the first place.