History 1745, US History to 1865
Summer Session, 2015
Introduction
Thomas Paine wrote “Common Sense” in the first month of 1776, and by the end of the year, it had sold 150,000 copies throughout America, constituting itself as the country’s first “best seller”. In this pamphlet, he put forth all the arguments that had been built up by the time, regarding the Colonies’ right to independence, and the evils of absolutist monarchy. The ideas of Natural Laws, and the roles and limitations of the Government, which are expressed in this document, were in wide circulation in the educated circles at the time, and even ...
