Common Sense was a series of pamphlets written by
Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously on
January 10,
1776, during the
American Revolution. Paine wrote it with editorial feedback from
Benjamin Rush, who came up with the title. The document denounced
British rule and, through its immense popularity, contributed to stimulating the
American Revolution. The second edition was published soon thereafter. A third edition, with an accounting of the worth of the
British navy, an expanded appendix, and a response to criticism by the
Quakers, was published on
February 14, 1776.
Paine donated the copyright for Common Sense to the states, and as one biographer noted, Paine made nothing from the estimated 150,000 to 600,000 copies that were eventually printed (various sources disagree on the number of printed copies in Paine's lifetime). In fact, he had to pay for the first printing himself.
Less-quoted sections of the pamphlet include Paine's over-optimistic view of America's military potential at the time of the Revolution. For example, he spends pages describing how colonial shipyards, by using the large amounts of lumber available in the country, could quickly create a navy that could rival the Royal Navy.
In the essay, Thomas Paine proposes a constitution of the United States as well as a method to be used for the purpose of drafting a Continental Charter (or Charter of the United Colonies) that would be an American Magna Carta. Paine also advised the American colonists with "simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense," that "Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of natural cries, 'TIS TIME TO PART". The diagram on the left provides a visual representation of the proposed system, which featured a combination of elections through ballot voting and allotment in order to select the president as well as the passing of laws with no less than 3/5 of the Congress.
