Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, the influential 1776 pamphlet arguing that the American colonies should become independent from Great Britain.
The pamphlet was published anonymously in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776. Paine used direct, accessible prose to attack monarchy and present independence as a practical and moral choice. Its style helped it reach readers beyond the educated elite.
Common Sense circulated widely through print, public reading, and reprinting. It helped make independence a subject of popular debate in the months before Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
Paine did not write the Declaration of Independence, which was drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson. That distinction is a common mix-up: Paine’s pamphlet influenced public opinion, while Jefferson drafted Congress’s formal declaration.