Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, the influential 1776 pamphlet that supported independence during the Revolutionary era commemorated by America250.
Published anonymously in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776, Common Sense argued that the American colonies should break completely from Britain and establish a republic. Paine used direct, accessible language rather than the formal style common in political essays of the period.
The pamphlet became extraordinarily popular. It challenged hereditary monarchy and criticized the idea that a distant island should rule a continent. Its arguments helped make independence more acceptable to many ordinary colonists before Congress adopted the Declaration.
Common Sense did not serve as the Declaration of Independence. Paine wrote a persuasive pamphlet, while Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration and the Continental Congress adopted the official document.