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[[image:commonsense.jpg|200px|thumb|First page of ''Common Sense'']]

[[image:commonsense.jpg|200px|thumb|First page of ''Common Sense'']]

'''''Common Sense''''' was a pamphlet written and published (anonymously) by [[Thomas Paine]] in January of 1776.  It denounced [[British]] rule over the [[Thirteen Colonies|thirteen colonies]].  The pamphlet was written in a language that spoke to the common man, and was immensely popular.  It was strongly influential in fostering the desire to be independent from the British [[monarchy]].

'''''Common Sense''''' was a pamphlet written and published (anonymously) by [[Thomas Paine]] in January 1776.  It denounced [[British]] rule over the [[Thirteen Colonies|thirteen colonies]].  The pamphlet was written in a language that spoke to the common man, and was immensely popular.  It was strongly influential in fostering the desire to be independent from the British [[monarchy]].

'''''Common Sense''''' achieved a feat accomplished by no other work except the [[Bible]]: sales of '''''Common Sense''''' totaled half of the number of people who could read in the American colonies.  This work, above all others, created an American identity among colonists.  Previous to '''''Common Sense''''' the most widely read work among the colonists was ''[[Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania]]'', by Founding Father [[John Dickinson]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9YuHZOn1EbgC&pg=PA17 The Radical Reader: A Documentary History of the American Radical Tradition]</ref>

'''''Common Sense''''' achieved a feat accomplished by no other work except the [[Bible]]: sales of '''''Common Sense''''' totaled half of the number of people who could read in the American colonies.  This work, above all others, created an American identity among colonists.  Previous to '''''Common Sense''''' the most widely read work among the colonists was ''[[Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania]]'', by Founding Father [[John Dickinson]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9YuHZOn1EbgC&pg=PA17 The Radical Reader: A Documentary History of the American Radical Tradition]</ref>