The Nexus Archive
Republican Radicalism · Essay
Common Sense
by Thomas Paine · The Revolutionary Pamphleteer · Age of Revolution, 1737-1809
Paine's explosive pamphlet against monarchy and for American independence.
- Intermediate
- 1776
- ~1 hr 30 min read
- 10 chapter guides
- Public domain
Start reading · Read the Introduction guide free
Before the text
Editor's Prelude
The Argument For Independence
Common Sense appeared in 1776 after war had begun but before independence had become the colonies' declared course. Thomas Paine writes into that uncertainty with short sentences, familiar examples, and open impatience with inherited authority.
He begins by separating cooperative society from coercive government, then attacks monarchy and hereditary succession before turning to the American crisis. Reconciliation, in his account, cannot protect a continent already subjected to British arms, vetoes, and imperial interests.
The pamphlet joins political principle to practical calculation: a representative government, commercial capacity, naval strength, and a union capable of acting for itself. Its Appendix and address to the Quakers answer the king's speech, continued hopes for compromise, and the use of religious peace testimony in a conflict Paine says Britain began.
The opening pages
Of the Origin and Design of Government
Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher.
Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.
For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.
In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same.
Four or five united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but one man might labour out of the common period of life without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time would urge him from his work, and every different want call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be death, for though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than to die.
Read it in a Quest
A revolutionary test of liberty, power, union, and the price of self-rule.
Chapter guides · 10
Introduction
Paine Sets The Stakes
Before the argument begins, Paine explains why delay and custom are dangerous.
What just happened
Paine opens by warning that habit can make a wrong arrangement look natural. British rule cannot justify itself merely by having lasted a long time.
Why it matters
The Introduction turns the pamphlet from a local complaint into a larger moral test. Paine wants America to see its cause as tied to the rights and suffering of people beyond one colony or one grievance.
Of the Origin and Design of Government
Society, Government, And The English Constitution
Paine separates cooperation from coercion, sketches representative government, and attacks the mixed constitution Britain celebrates.
Different origins
Society grows from human needs and shared assistance; government becomes necessary when moral virtue is not enough to restrain wrongdoing. Its legitimate end is freedom and security delivered with the least expense and greatest benefit.
Representation under the tree
Paine imagines settlers first meeting together, then electing representatives as population and distance grow. Frequent elections return representatives to the body of the people and keep their interests aligned; mutual support, not the name of king, gives government strength.
A mixed system that does not check itself
The English constitution combines hereditary king and peers with an elected Commons. Paine argues that its supposed checks contradict one another, that royal patronage lets the crown dominate the Commons, and that the people's character rather than the government's design explains the liberty England retains.
Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession
Paine Attacks Monarchy And Inheritance
Natural equality, scripture, political origins, and English history become separate arguments against kingship.
Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs: Reconciliation Examined
Reconciliation Loses Its Force
Paine begins turning hope for repair into a case for separation.
Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs: Boston and the Break
Boston Makes Delay Dangerous
Paine turns suffering into a reason to stop postponing the decision.
Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs: Why Compromise Cannot Last
A Patched Government Will Fail
Paine argues that compromise leaves America exposed to the same power that injured it.
Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs: Continental Government and the Law
A Government Of Our Own
Paine turns independence from rejection into a concrete political and moral summons.
Of the Present Ability of America
Paine Argues That The Time Has Arrived
America's unity, armed strength, naval materials, political opportunity, and foreign position make present action possible in Paine's account.
Appendix
The Appendix Makes Delay More Dangerous
Paine answers the king's speech, compares independence with reconciliation, and argues that the legal choice must be made before force or disorder makes it another way.
Address to the People Called Quakers
Paine Challenges A Political Testimony
He distinguishes Quaker peace principles from a partisan statement supporting continued subordination to the king.
Questions readers ask
- How long does it take to read Common Sense?
- About 1 hr 30 min in total.
- How difficult is Common Sense?
- Intermediate. A mid-length essay; about 2 hours of reading.
- Can I read Common Sense for free?
- Yes. Common Sense is free to read with a Nexus account.
- How many chapter guides are there?
- 10 chapter guides, written by the Nexus editors. Two open in full here; the rest show their opening line.
About Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine was a political writer whose pamphlets helped radicalize the American Revolution and shaped democratic arguments about monarchy, rights, and political legitimacy.
“Why should the living be ruled by inherited power?”
Paine shows how writing can move ordinary people into political action.
Source text: public domain. Chapter guides: original Nexus writing. Common Sense is part of The Nexus Archive, guided Quests through the great works.