Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense argued for American independence and influenced the movement commemorated by America250.
Published anonymously in Philadelphia in January 1776, Common Sense attacked hereditary monarchy and argued that the American colonies should become independent. Paine wrote in direct, accessible language rather than the formal style common in political essays, helping the pamphlet reach a broad colonial audience.
The work appeared before Congress adopted the Lee Resolution and the Declaration of Independence. It did not legally declare independence, but it helped make a complete break with Great Britain a more widely discussed and defensible position. Paine later wrote The American Crisis, another series of revolutionary pamphlets.
Common Sense is often confused with The Federalist Papers, which defended the proposed U.S. Constitution a decade later. Poor Richard’s Almanack was associated with Benjamin Franklin and was not an independence pamphlet. Paine’s pamphlet remains one of the best-known pieces of revolutionary political writing.