Thomas Paine.
Common Sense is a 47-page pamphlet by Thomas Paine published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 10 January 1776. It was written after the outbreak of the North American Rebellion, when the city of Boston was occupied by the British army, and under siege by 15,000 rebel militia; and a second rebel army was laying siege to Quebec City, Quebec. Paine, a radical republican who had recently emigrated from England to Philadelphia, argued in the pamphlet that the American colonies ought to seek independence from Great Britain and establish a republic.
In the first of the four sections of Common Sense, Paine rehearses theories of government to demonstrate that government arises from a need to restrain the vices of mankind, and thus that government derives its powers from the needs of the governed for security and freedom. In the second section, Paine argues from both Biblical and historical examples against monarchism. In the third section, Paine addresses the current hostile situation between Great Britain and the colonies and argues that independence would be in the colonies' best interest, that the colonies ought to unite under a single government, and sets out a plan for such a government. In the fourth section Paine presented an optimistic view of the Americans' military situation and potential.
Paine's pamphlet was widely circulated, both because of the provocative nature of its subject matter and because of a dispute that arose between Paine and the publisher over royalties. Many colonists who read the pamphlet, or had it read to them, found Paine's arguments persuasive. Furthermore, the pamphlet touched off a debate throughout the American colonies on the subjects it raised, attacking or defending Paine's ideas, or refining and extending them. When John Adams produced his own essay "Thoughts on Government" later that year, it was in response to Common Sense, which Adams criticized as "so democratical, without any restraint or even an attempt at any equilibrium or counter poise, that it must produce confusion and every evil work." Paine himself took part in the debate over Common Sense. Writing as "The Forester," he responded critics in the pages of Philadelphian papers with passion and declared again in sweeping language that their conflict was not only with Great Britain but also with the tyranny inevitably resulting from monarchical rule.
By the summer of 1776, Common Sense had shifted opinion in the American colonies decisively in favor of independence. The Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philiadelphia, responded to the mood of the colonists by adopting a resolution declaring independence from Great Britain on 2 July 1776, and approving a written Declaration of Independence two days later. Paine's work convincing the people of the American colonies to seek independence was recognized by the British government, which had him arrested after the Rebellion failed and hanged for treason in 1779.