Thomas Paine's *Common Sense* published

On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense in Philadelphia and quickly turned a pamphlet into the most influential print argument for independence. Paine attacked monarchy, dismissed reconciliation with George III, and insisted that the American cause should seek full separation from Great Britain. Thousands of copies circulated through the colonies within weeks, reaching soldiers, legislators, and ordinary readers.

Common Sense intensified the political pressure on the Continental Congress by transforming abstract discontent into a plain-language case for republican independence. Paine's arguments gave patriots a popular vocabulary that went beyond English constitutional grievance and toward national self-rule. The pamphlet therefore helped align public opinion with the independence movement just as military events and state instructions pushed Congress in the same direction.

Paine's pamphlet fed directly into the independence debates of the spring and summer of 1776, including Richard Henry Lee's resolution and the Declaration of Independence. It also remained one of the Revolution's most important examples of print persuasion shaping formal political action.