For America250, who wrote the 1776 pamphlet Common Sense?

For America250, Thomas Paine wrote the 1776 pamphlet Common Sense.

Published anonymously in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776, Common Sense argued that the American colonies should seek complete independence from Great Britain. Paine used direct, accessible language rather than the formal style common in political writing of the period.

The pamphlet became one of the most influential publications of the Revolutionary era. It sold widely and helped persuade many colonists that independence was a practical political goal, not merely a radical proposal.

Common Sense was published before the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration several months later, while Benjamin Franklin and John Adams served on the committee that helped prepare it. Paine later served as a member of the Second Continental Congress and contributed to the revolutionary cause in other ways.