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Common Sense

Published anonymously in January 1776, Common Sense by Thomas Paine became the most widely published work of the American founding era, with over half a million copies printed for a nation of three million people. In this influential pamphlet, Paine made a passionate case for American independence and liberty, as well as against the institution of monarchy. Though later unpopular for his religious views, Paine is still best remembered for Common Sense, which is often credited with helping to spark the American Revolution.

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66 views

Common Sense

Published anonymously in January 1776, Common Sense by Thomas Paine became the most widely published work of the American founding era, with over half a million copies printed for a nation of three million people. In this influential pamphlet, Paine made a passionate case for American independence and liberty, as well as against the institution of monarchy. Though later unpopular for his religious views, Paine is still best remembered for Common Sense, which is often credited with helping to spark the American Revolution.

Uploaded by

carolineyu
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2012 Hillsdale College Press. Please do not reproduce without permission.

Te U.S. Constitution: A Reader is available for purchase at HillsdaleUSConstitution.com.


from Te U.S. Constitution: A Reader, pp. 99-100
Published anonymously in January 1776, by an Englishman who had come to Philadelphia two years
before, Common Sense became the most published work of the founding era. Printed over half a million
times in a nation of three million people, it made a passionate case for liberty and against monarchy.
Unpopular in later life for his attacks on Christianity, Tomas Paine will always be remembered for
this pamphleta pamphlet often said to have launched the American Revolution.
January 10, 1776
On the Origin and Design of Government in General,
With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution
Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction
between them; whereas they are not only diferent, but have diferent origins. Society is produced
by our wants and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by
uniting our afections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. Te one encourages intercourse,
the other creates distinctions. Te frst is a patron, the last a punisher.
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 sufer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a
government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened
by refecting that we furnish the means by which we sufer. Government, like dress, is the badge of
lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the
impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other law-giver;
but that not being the case, he fnds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish
means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in
every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true
design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most
likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest beneft, is preferable to all others....
C S
T P (1737-1809)
______________________
Tomas Paine, Common Sense, in William M. Van der Weyde, ed., Te Life and Works of Tomas Paine, Patriots Edition, Vol.
2 (New Rochelle, NY: Tomas Paine National Historical Association, 1925), 97110, 11422. Tomas Paine National Historical
Association, New Rochelle, NY. www.thomaspaine.org.

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