Thomas Paine

Common Sense (Annotated) Thomas Paine

This annotated copy of Common Sense provides readers with a clear and comprehensive historical outline of Paine's life and the timeline of the revolution making this classic more accessible for everyone.


First published anonymously on January 10th,1776, Thomas Paine's Common Sense was a 47-page pamphlet written as a call to action for Americans. Paine spoke passionately about the need for America to free itself from British rule and establish independence with an egalitarian government. Despite only arriving in America two years prior, Paine urged his adopted country to seek personal freedoms and equalities against the crown. At the time, it was akin to treason to speak of such things.

Paine wasted no time, quickly instilling himself in Philadelphia newspapers. Common Sense began as a series of letters to be published in various papers but soon grew in scope, becoming too lengthy to publish in such a fashion. Paine selected a pamphlet form for his works and began fashioning the document as a sermon. Upon its release at the beginning of the American Revolution, Common Sense became a radical sensation that swept through the colonies.

Colonists read it aloud in various meeting places; its solid and convincing prose worked like a bellows to flame the fires of revolution, eventually garnering the most significant sale and circulation of any book in American history.