On January 10, 1776, a 47-page pamphlet authored ‘by an Englishman’ was published in Philadelphia. In three months, the pamphlet sold 100,000 copies to the two million residents of the thirteen colonies in North America. During the duration of the American Revolution, the sales number grew to about 500,000 copies including those that were not authorized. The pamphlet’s reach went to the far corners of the colonies as even public readings for those who couldn’t read took place. The title of the pamphlet was Common Sense; the author was Thomas Paine.
Who Was Thomas Paine: Paine was born to a modest income English family on January 29, 1736, in Thetford, Norfolk. At a time when education was not compulsory, he attended school until age thirteen, when he went to work as an apprentice to his father’s staymaker business. After an adventure as a privateer, he opened his own staymaker business in Sandwich, Kent, in 1759. When the business failed a few years later, he became an excise officer (customs officer) in Grantham, Lincolnshire. He also became an activist in 1768 as a member of the parish vestry in his new home in Lewes, Suffolk. The vestry was influential in collecting monies for distribution to the poor. He later joined the excise officers asking Parliament for better pay and conditions by publishing and distributing a 12-page article in 1772, explaining the excise officers’ position. After being dismissed from the excise service, he moved to London where he met Benjamin Franklin, who’s role at the time was to galvanize opposition to British colonial rule in North America. Franklin suggested that Paine move to Philadelphia, and he wrote a letter of recommendation for him. Paine arrived in Philadelphia in November, 1774. In January 1775, Paine was hired to be the editor of the new periodical named American Magazine that featured content pertaining to the American colonies. As editor, Paine grew the magazine’s readership to a greater number than any previous North American periodical, adding political content that turned out to be popular among readers of the time. Paine also wrote essays in Franklin’s Philadelphia Magazine that included such themes as workers’ rights and the abolition of slavery (written anonymously). His appeal reached extensively to the working class. On January 10, 1776, he published Common Sense.
Some Key Points of Common Sense:
The Government’s purpose was to serve its constituents: Paine’s message was that the government was there to form a framework of order for problem solving in the population. This could not easily be done by royalty and nobles who were thousands of miles away and out of touch. Further, since the British constitution was unwritten, the complexity of it was opaque to much of the society, and it was difficult to change or adjust wherever this top-down rule was non-functional.
A King’s rule was not a good thing: Paine took a stern position against the King George III and all other monarchs by stating that “Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.”
America was the home of freedom: Generally speaking, Common Sense contradicts the concept that the colonists needed to be loyal to the mother country—England. Instead, the people that migrated to North America were in a large part leaving the oppression that they found in Europe. He noted that “…the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.”
Americans had the opportunity to embrace self-rule: Paine’s own experiences and conversation with either Englishmen or Americans led him to believe that the separation between Britain and the North American colonies was inevitable. He further said that the time was right and that the colonists should proceed before the dynamics of society in the colonies changed.
A strong central government was key to the solution: Paine expected that the new American nation would need a strong central government that guaranteed individual rights by way of a written constitution.
Why Was Common Sense So Influential: Common Sense was the first written document that outlined sound reasoning for the colonies separating from Britain. Its broad base of appeal took it to the far corners of the colonies and reached the common man as much as learned intellectuals. It pointed out to all that the North American colonists were no longer British citizens, but Americans. The pamphlet further placed the responsibility for the revolutionary fervor directly with King George III, dashing the hopes of some in the colonies that reconciliation might still be possible. Its timing was significant in that it pushed many colonial leaders off the fence and into the ranks of declaring independence, realizing that they should not let this moment in history pass without action. Within a few months of publication, the Continental Congress directed each colony to draft a new constitution that would place them on the path of independence. By June, 1776, the congress had set in motion the actions that would lead up to the July 4th ratification of the Declaration of Independence, and the subsequent signing that took place in early August. Although there is no direct evidence that Paine participated in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence itself, he may have influenced Thomas Jefferson, who read Common Sense before he wrote the declaration and considered Paine to be the best writer of the times. There further is the inscription “T.P.” on the reverse side of an early draft indicating his possible involvement or approval.
Paine’s Other Activities: Paine published a series of pamphlets entitled The American Crisis in an effort to inspire American forces in the Revolutionary War. General George Washington mandated that The American Crisis be read out loud to each unit of the revolutionary army to boost morale at the times when it was needed. In 1777, Paine became the secretary of the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs, but ran into some political trouble with his criticism of Silas Deane, who was appointed by the committee to gain financial support for the revolution from the French Government. He eventually left the committee, but later was exonerated when Deane’s corruption was more widely acknowledged. Paine’s pamphlet, Public Good, published in 1780, made the case that the territories to the west of the thirteen colonies were lands that belonged to the American Government and not any speculators or foreign government. This led to the 1787 passaged of the Northwest Ordinance by the Congress of Confederation, that outlined the Northwest Territory including nearly all the land west of the colonies to the Mississippi River. In 1787 Paine returned to England, but he became absorbed by the French Revolution that began in 1789. Like Common Sense his later works had strong appeal to working masses, aided by a cheaper price. His revolutionary fervor got him into trouble in Paris in 1793, where he was arrested and jailed for sedition. After his release in 1794, he remained in France until 1802 when he returned to the United States. He further wrote criticisms of Presidents George Washington and John Adams for their failure to support the French Revolution. He died June 8, 1809, in New York.
Conclusions: It’s been said that the pen is mightier than the sword. Thomas Paine’s work as a writer during the American Revolution was instrumental, in fact crucial, to the success of the revolution. Ironically, there are no monuments or statues commemorating the man or any of his achievements in Washington D.C. However, there are two monuments of him in Britain, and one in France.
Sources: History.com, How Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ Helped Inspire the American Revolution, Patrick J. Kiger, July 11, 2023.
Wikipedia, Thomas Paine.
Thomas Paine’s portrait done by John Wesley Jarvis circa 1806/7.