Thomas Paine wrote the 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, a major independence text highlighted by America250.
Paine published the pamphlet anonymously on January 10, 1776, using direct language to argue that the American colonies should become independent from Great Britain. It attacked hereditary monarchy and presented republican government as a more legitimate alternative. The work was printed in Philadelphia and circulated widely.
Common Sense is often credited with helping make independence arguments accessible to a broad colonial readership. It did not itself constitute the Declaration of Independence, and Paine was not one of the Declaration’s principal drafters. Paine later served the revolutionary cause through additional writings, including The American Crisis, published during the war.