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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 enormously 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.

'''''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>

==Distinction between Society and Government==

==Distinction between Society and Government==

Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a Government, which we might expect in a country without Government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.<ref>Common Sense, page 15.</ref>}}

Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a Government, which we might expect in a country without Government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.<ref>Common Sense, page 15.</ref>}}

== External Links ==

== External links ==

* [http://www.ushistory.org/Paine/commonsense/index.htm Online Copy of ''Common Sense'']

* [http://www.ushistory.org/Paine/commonsense/index.htm Online Copy of ''Common Sense'']

* [https://archive.org/details/commonsense00painrich Online Copy of ''Common Sense''], [[Archive.org]]

* [https://archive.org/details/commonsense00painrich Online Copy of ''Common Sense''], [[Archive.org]]

==References==

==References==

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[[Category:Political Books]]

[[Category:Political Books]]

[[Category:United States History]]

[[Category:United States History]]

[[Category : Conservative Books]]

[[Category:Conservative Books]]