University of Virginia Library

Common Sense was the first American best seller. It sold 120,000 copies in the first three months after its publication in January 1776. An estimated 500,000 copies were sold that year. Such sales were phenomenal, considering that the population of the entire country was only about 1.5 million.

Although the Revolutionary War began in April of 1775, its aims were ill-defined. Prior to the publication of Common Sense, not one of the thirteen colonies had instructed its delegation to the Continental Congress to vote in favor of independence. The best estimates are that only one-third of the delegates to Congress favored independence. Certainly other writings and events helped shift public opinion in favor of independence, but no single writing or event had the profound effect of the arguments advanced by Paine in Common Sense.

The first edition of Common Sense was published on January 10, 1776, in Philadelphia. This is the second, enlarged edition, which was published on February 14, 1776.

Born Tom Pain in the town of Thetford, Norfolk, England, on January 29, 1737, Paine was the son of a Quaker staymaker. He went to school from age six until he was thirteen, when he became an apprentice in his father's shop. Paine practiced his trade of making women's corsets until 1761, when he became an exciseman— a customs official who collected the internal taxes levied on various items.

In 1772 Paine wrote a pamphlet, The Case of the Officers of Excise, arguing for higher salaries for excisemen. The cause failed, and the time that Paine diverted from his duties as an exciseman cost him his job. Bankrupt, unemployed, and separated from his wife, Paine went to London in 1774. There he met Benjamin Franklin, who gave a him a letter of introduction to his son-in-law in Philadelphia, and left England for America at the age of 37.

In Philadelphia Paine taught for a short time, and then began writing for magazines and newspapers. When Common Sense first appeared in January 1776, the byline was "written by an Englishman." The second edition was also published anonymously, but at that time Paine started adding the "e" to his name.

Paine joined the American army in July 1776, and combined soldering and journalism for the next seven years. In December of 1773, he published a pamphlet, The Crisis. Its opening lines are the most frequently quoted of all of Paine's writings: These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.

After the Revolutionary War, Paine devoted most his time to scientific projects, chief of which was his desire to build an iron bridge. His pursuit of these projects took him to England and France, where he became embroiled in European politics. In 1791 Paine's The Rights of Man was published in England. In it he defended the French revolution and attacked the British aristocracy. The book was widely read, but it led to Paine being charged with seditious writings. After Paine fled to France, he was tried in absentia, found guilty, and outlawed from ever returning to England.

Paine spent ten years in France as an active participant in the tumultuous politics of the era. He served as a delegate to the National Convention until December of 1793, when he and other foreign delegates were imprisoned. He was released from prison after ten months, largely due to the efforts of James Monroe, the American ambassador. Paine was re-elected to the Assembly, and continued writing, although his health was failing.

One of Paine's later works, The Age of Reason, was an attack on Christian theology and the Bible. It was well reasoned, but not well received.

Paine returned to America in 1802, settling on a farm in New Rochelle, outside of New York City. Instead of being regarded as a great patriot, Paine was ostracized as the author of the "godless" Age of Reason. He died on June 8, 1809, lonely, bitter, and forgotten.