Thomas Paine’s 1776 pamphlet urging American independence was titled Common Sense.
Published anonymously in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776, Common Sense attacked hereditary monarchy and argued that the colonies should become an independent republic. Paine wrote in accessible language rather than the formal style common in political essays, helping the pamphlet reach a broad colonial readership.
The work sold exceptionally well for its time, with hundreds of thousands of copies circulating in 1776. It did not itself declare independence, but it influenced public debate before the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration. Paine later wrote The American Crisis, another series of revolutionary pamphlets, making him one of the era’s most prominent political writers.