What book helped convince the colonists and the Congress that the United States should be independent from England?

Common Sense[1] is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776[2] at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation.

Common Sense

Pamphlet's original cover

AuthorThomas PaineCountryUnited 10, 1776Pages47Designations

Pennsylvania Historical Marker

Official name"Common Sense"TypeCityCriteria

American Revolution

Government & Politics

Government & Politics 18th Century

Military

Professions & Vocations

Publishing & Journalism

Designated1993LocationSE corner of S 3rd St. & Thomas Paine Place (Chancellor St), Philadelphia

39.94041°N 75.14645°WMarker TextAt his print shop here, Robert Bell published the first edition of Thomas Paine's revolutionary pamphlet in January 1776. Arguing for a republican form of government under a written constitution, it played a key role in rallying American support for independence.

It was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time (2.5 million), it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history.[3] As of 2006, it remains the all-time best-selling American title and is still in print today.[4]

Common Sense made public a persuasive and impassioned case for independence, which had not yet been given serious intellectual consideration. Paine connected independence with common dissenting Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American political identity and structured Common Sense as if it were a sermon.[5][6] Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as "the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era."[7]

The text was translated into French by Antoine Gilbert Griffet de Labaume in 1790.

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