Thomas Paine wrote the 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, which argued that the American colonies should seek independence.
Paine published Common Sense anonymously in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776. Its direct prose attacked hereditary monarchy and presented independence as a practical and moral choice for people in the Thirteen Colonies.
The pamphlet became an immediate sensation. It was sold in print shops, distributed through the colonies, and read aloud in taverns and meeting places. Paine deliberately used accessible language rather than the formal style common in political writing of the period.
Common Sense did not itself declare independence, and historians debate how directly it influenced Congress’s vote. Its importance lies in helping turn independence into a widely discussed public cause before the Declaration was adopted. Paine later wrote The American Crisis pamphlets during the war.