January 10th, 1776 – Thomas Paine publishes his “Common Sense” Pamphlet.
It was on this day two hundred fifty years ago that Thomas Paine published his stirring Common Sense Pamphlet in Philadelphia. Common Sense would intoxicate the public like nothing else before, reportedly selling over 150,000 copies in just three months, in a nation of just two and a half million people.
It is believed that Americans were the most literate people on earth in the latter part of the 18th century, owing to the large percentage of bible-consuming citizens whose ancestors flocked to American shores to escape religious persecution. Those who couldn’t read were read to in the taverns, churches, and meeting houses all across the colony. Paine’s fiery words gave rise to their feelings, and in turn, their feelings gave rise to his words.
The timing of the recent immigrants’ pamphlet could not have been more perfect. In addition to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the previous spring and the British military occupation of Boston, the Royal Navy had, just 9 days earlier, bombarded the seaport town of Norfolk, Virginia, and nearly the whole of it burned to the ground.
What’s more, on the same day as Paine advertised his pamphlet for sale, the Philadelphia paper printed King George III’s speech before parliament, further agitating a great many of the populace.
Paine’s incendiary pamphlet is divided into five parts, beginning with a brief introduction in which he admits that the sentiments contained in the pamphlet may, at first, be unpopular, but that he believes time would sway his audience to his mode of thinking.
“PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not YET sufficientlyfashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry indefence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason”
He finishes the introduction with an appeal for Americans to look at the grand cause before them as much bigger than themselves. It is the cause of all mankind.
“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are interested. The laying of a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is THE AUTHOR”
The next section is titled, Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution, in which he draws a distinction between society and government, and that government is no more than a necessary evil.
“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.”
Paine illustrates his point by distilling the oppressive governmental structure under British rule into three components; the first two are tyrannical by nature, and the third requires its arbiters to be virtuous.
“I know it is difficult to get over local or long-standing prejudices, yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the English constitution, we shallfind them to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some newrepublican materials.”
He Continues…
“First.—The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king.
Secondly.—The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers.
Thirdly.—The new republican materials, in the persons of the commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England.
The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people; wherefore in a
constitutional sense they contribute nothing towards the freedom of the state.”
The next section, Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession, offers both biblical and historical evidence in support of the arguments Paine makes in the preceding section.
After citing many biblical passages to prove his point, he then recalls the history of the English Monarchy, of which his readers were keenly aware.
“In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.”
In the next section, Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs – Paine appeals to his colonial reader, writing that, if they seriously reflect on this moment, they will conclude that it is wise to form their own government, unshackled by the tyranny of the crown.
“A government of our own is our natural right; and when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance.”
Finally, in the last section, titled, Of the Present Ability of America, With Some Miscellaneous Reflections, the erstwhile patriot lays out his optimistic case that, despite the formidable army and navy Great Britain will bring to bear, America could throw off the yoke and send them back across the Atlantic. He argues that unity and the utilization of America’s vast resources will bring about victory.
“It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world. The Continent hath, at
this time, the largest body of armed and disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived at that pitch of strength, in which, no single colony is ableto support itself, and the whole, when united, can accomplish the matter, and either more or less than this, might be fatal in its effects.”
Washington, for his part, was eternally grateful to Thomas Paine and his timely pamphlets (he would write several for the patriot cause), as they galvanized his army and its cause while it was in its nascent state.
Many believe that Common Sense was very nearly the chief cause for the American colonists’ shift from the spirit of reconciliation to the fervor of rebellion. It is hard to argue otherwise. Later that year, the Declaration of Independence would be adopted, and set the colonies on their way to freedom from Great Britain and its tyranny, thus sanctifying Paine’s timely sentiments.
