Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense helped persuade American colonists to support independence in 1776.
Published anonymously in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776, Common Sense attacked hereditary monarchy and argued that the American colonies should separate from Great Britain. Paine wrote in direct, accessible language rather than the formal style common in political essays of the period.
The pamphlet became exceptionally popular for its time. It was distributed widely in the colonies and helped move public discussion from resistance to British policies toward the question of complete independence.
Common Sense did not itself declare independence, and it was not a government document. The Declaration of Independence followed several months later, in July 1776. Paine later wrote The American Crisis during the Revolutionary War, a separate series of writings beginning with “These are the times that try men’s souls.”