Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was published in January 1776, 14 months after he arrived from England, and many months after the war with England began at Concord and Lexington. The pamphlet was an overnight success and Paine became the most popular and widely read author in the American colonies.

Common Sense established Paine as one of the nation’s founding fathers. He was the first to call for independence, not just a rebellion against taxation. Common Sense swept away any doubts that persons might have about fighting for the cause, and the term “common sense” entered the English language.

Common Sense’s appeal came from the fact that Paine wrote it in clear, direct prose, the language of ordinary people. And his message was explicit: King George III, descended from hereditary rulers, claimed to be a sovereign lord over people who were his subjects. Paine’s readers concluded that they did not want a king and they certainly did not want to be subject to his decisions about their lives. The colonists knew how to manage their own affairs, as they had done very well in everyday decisions for many years. 

To be ruled by a king was contrary to common sense, that natural ability to make sound judgments and to act with good sense. For a king on a distant island to rule a large continent defied common sense. Paine’s readers understood that and easily saw that representative government, as later established by the Constitution, would be superior to a government based on a hereditary monarchy.

Common sense has served the nation for more than two hundred years, and it is especially needed today when voices question the need to fund public schools or to protect our forests and waterways for current and future generations.