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Common Sense is the timeless classic that inspired the Thirteen Colonies to fight for and declare their independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. Written by famed political theorist Thomas Paine, this pamphlet boldly challenged the authority of the British... Read Full Overview

The revolutionary pamphlet that helped light the fire of American Independence in an elegant hardback gift edition.

Thomas Paine arrived in America from England in 1774. A friend of Benjamin Franklin, he was a writer of poetry and tracts condemning... Read Full Overview

Among the most influential authors and reformers of his age, Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was born in England but went on to play an important role in both the American and French Revolutions. In 1774, he emigrated to America where, for a time, he helped to edit the Pennsylvania... Read Full Overview

Common Sense by Thomas Paine

Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-76 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight... Read Full Overview

Published anonymously in 1776, the year of the American Declaration of Independence, Paine's Common Sense became an immediate best-seller, with fifty-six editions printed in that year alone. It was this pamphlet, more than any other factor, which helped to spark off the movement... Read Full Overview

The radical pamphlet that helped incite the American Revolution Penguin presents a series of six portable, accessible, and--above all--essential reads from American political history, selected by leading scholars. Series editor Richard Beeman, author of The Penguin Guide to the... Read Full Overview

First published on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense was an immediate sensation. In clear simple language it explained to the people of the Thirteen Colonies why they needed to fight for independence from Great... Read Full Overview

Published in 1776 is a pamphlet that inflamed the people igniting the American Revolution. Thomas Paine's famous work is a treasure for all to behold as it states clearly the need for independence.

"Originally printed and sold by W. & T. Bradford, February 14, 1776"--Title page verso.

This is an abridged and annotated edition of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" with definitions, diagrams and historical context, plus an annotated and formatted copy of The Declaration of Independence. Enjoy and easily follow Thomas Paine's most influential and inspiring words... Read Full Overview

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason." ― Thomas Paine, Common Sense

Throughout... Read Full Overview

"In Common Sense a writer found his moment to change the world," Alan Taylor writes in his introduction. When Paine's attack on the British mixed constitution of kings, lords, and commons was published in January 1776, fighting had already erupted between... Read Full Overview