Thomas Paine wrote the influential 1776 pamphlet Common Sense during the American Revolution. The work argued that the American colonies should seek independence from Great Britain.
Common Sense was published anonymously in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776. Paine used direct, accessible language to criticize monarchy and hereditary rule, helping make the case for independence understandable to a broad colonial readership.
The pamphlet became an immediate publishing sensation. It was read aloud in homes, taverns, and meeting places, and its arguments helped shift public discussion from reconciliation with Britain toward complete independence.
Common Sense was not the Declaration of Independence and did not legally establish a new nation. Instead, it was a persuasive political pamphlet that influenced the climate in which independence was debated. Paine later wrote The American Crisis, another series of writings supporting the revolutionary cause.