The Patriot Post® · America 250: Uncommon 'Common Sense'
While the Second Continental Congress and many of the colonists still struggled with their relationship with the English Crown and Parliament, a former citizen of the British Isles who arrived in the colonies in November 1774 penned the most thoroughly and quite persuasive argument for independence in a 47-page pamphlet titled Common Sense. Published anonymously in January 1776, it quickly became the text most often quoted by those who advocated independence from a mother country that had perverted the “rights of Englishmen” by denying them to the colonists.
What influence did this Englishman Thomas Paine have on the course of the war — already begun with the Battles of Lexington and Concord — and the fight for independence?
His writing certainly fueled the debate about the future of the colonies. John Adams was frightened by Paine’s language and his advocacy for a “democracy.” Adams noted that Common Sense was “so democratical, without restraint or even an attempt at any equilibrium or counter poise, that it must produce confusion and every evil work.”
Others disagreed vehemently. In a letter to the Pennsylvania Evening Post only a month after the pamphlet’s publication, one colonist wrote to the editor and said, “Tell the author of COMMON SENSE … that he has done wonders and worked miracles. His stile [sp] is plain …; his facts are true, his reasoning, just and conclusive.”
Interestingly, those two sides of the argument would occur over and over as the new government was drafted. One only has to read about the formation of Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Party and Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party to learn more.
How did Paine go from being a new resident in November 1774 to publishing the first few sections of Common Sense as letters to the Philadelphia newspapers by November 1775?
Paine later wrote that he was puzzled by the attitude of many of the colonists. “The disposition of the people are 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 single object was reconciliation.”
As his letters became more and more popular, he was advised to write a pamphlet, combining the earliest letters and finishing his arguments for independence. While the publishing became somewhat difficult as two entities argued for the publication rights, the result was remarkable. With a colonial population of approximately 2.5 million, Common Sense sold 100,000 copies in 1776, with almost 50,000 copies being sold in Great Britain and France. While those numbers may be somewhat inflated, Paine’s writing remains one of the best-selling pamphlets of all time and is still published today.
What were Paine’s major arguments supporting independence?
Paine argued that government was a necessary evil as societies grew, but the English constitution — considered extraordinary in Europe as it had established “constitutional monarchy” — was in reality monarchical and aristocratic tyranny.
For those who quoted the Old Testament and pointed to a succession of kings including David, Solomon, Josiah, and others, Paine pointed to Gideon, who refused the call of his people for a king (Judges 8:22).
Paine noted that the limitations placed on the English king’s power had simply transferred that power to Parliament. Such power concentrated in the hands of the few — of which some hold their power only through aristocratic title — was a farce.
The best course of action was independence and the creation of a Continental Charter by delegates chosen by their colony to serve in a Continental Conference.
He detailed how that Conference would be organized with at least 190 members (30 per colony) who would then select the president through a yearly lottery system. Each colony’s name would be entered into the lottery and, if chosen, the Conference would choose the president from among that colony’s delegates. That colony’s name would be removed from the lottery until all colonies had been chosen. He believed that plan would eliminate the conflict between regions and the large/small colonies.
Once Common Sense was published, debate rang out from Savannah in the South to Portsmouth in the North. Did the pamphlet lead to the vote for independence? Perhaps that direct line of influence is too hard to prove, but Paine’s persuasive tone and his willingness to use a bit of propaganda, i.e. quoting the Bible when he was himself a deist, certainly helped some colonists — and delegates to the Second Continental Congress — form their own ideas supporting revolution.
What was Thomas Paine’s most famous statement? This author has several favorites, but bows to Paine’s pen for a line he scribed in 1791 following the ratification of the U.S. Constitution: “Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.”