Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas
Paine. It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, during the
American Revolution. Common Sense presented the American colonists with
an argument for independence from British rule at a time when the question of
independence was still undecided. Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that
common people understood; forgoing the philosophy and Latin references used by
Enlightenment era writers, Paine structured Common Sense like a sermon
and relied on Biblical references to make his case to the people.
Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as, “the most
incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era.”
— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
