What do you think?
Rate this book
Common Sense/The Crisis
Book by Thomas T Paine
240 pages, paper
First published January 1, 2000
12 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Paine
1,336 books1,843 followersThomas Paine was an English-American political activist, author, political theorist and revolutionary. As the author of two highly influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, he inspired the Patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era rhetoric of transnational human rights. He has been called "a corset maker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination".
Born in Thetford, England, in the county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American book that advocated colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and The American Crisis (1776–83), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. Common Sense was so influential that John Adams said, "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain."
Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), in part a defence of the French Revolution against its critics. His attacks on British writer Edmund Burke led to a trial and conviction in absentia in 1792 for the crime of seditious libel. In 1792, despite not being able to speak French, he was elected to the French National Convention. The Girondists regarded him as an ally. Consequently, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy.
In December 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of his pamphlet The Age of Reason (1793–94), in which he advocated deism, promoted reason and freethinking, and argued against institutionalized religion in general and Christian doctrine in particular. He also wrote the pamphlet Agrarian Justice (1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. In 1802, he returned to America where he died on June 8, 1809. Only six people attended his funeral as he had been ostracized for his ridicule of Christianity.
Born in Thetford, England, in the county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American book that advocated colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and The American Crisis (1776–83), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. Common Sense was so influential that John Adams said, "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain."
Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), in part a defence of the French Revolution against its critics. His attacks on British writer Edmund Burke led to a trial and conviction in absentia in 1792 for the crime of seditious libel. In 1792, despite not being able to speak French, he was elected to the French National Convention. The Girondists regarded him as an ally. Consequently, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy.
In December 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of his pamphlet The Age of Reason (1793–94), in which he advocated deism, promoted reason and freethinking, and argued against institutionalized religion in general and Christian doctrine in particular. He also wrote the pamphlet Agrarian Justice (1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. In 1802, he returned to America where he died on June 8, 1809. Only six people attended his funeral as he had been ostracized for his ridicule of Christianity.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 4, 2024
The common, ordinary people of the brand-new United States of America loved Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. In the year of the Declaration of Independence, an English expatriate, whose life at home had come to grief, remade himself as a pamphleteer on behalf of the American cause – and achieved literary and political immortality in the process. In that regard, Thomas Paine’s story is a characteristically American story – and his Common Sense remains an essential American work.
In a helpful and perceptive foreword, Richard Beeman explains how a series of reversals prompted the man whose name was originally Thomas Pain to leave his English homeland. Beeman, who aptly calls Paine “an impoverished, mostly self-educated English immigrant who had arrived in America just a little more than a year before [Common Sense’s] publication”, discusses the setbacks of Paine’s life in England, including a first marriage that ended with his wife’s premature death, and then a brief and disastrous second marriage. With “No wife [and] no job, [and] facing the threat of imprisonment”, Paine found himself “nurturing a deep-seated anger about the unfairness of life in the kingdom ruled by King George III.”
Beeman also provides a helpful reminder of the historical circumstances that had helped to bring on the American Revolution. Thirteen years before the American colonies declared their independence, Britain had won a costly war to keep those colonies British rather than French, and therefore the British Parliament considered it appropriate and necessary that the colonists pay some new taxes to defray the costs of the Seven Years’ War.
From Parliament’s point of view, it all made sense. Thousands of British soldiers had died, and millions of pounds sterling had been spent, to keep British colonists safe from French tyranny. And with British victory in that war, the British colonial system – whereby the hard-working and the lucky among the colonists could take their prosperity “home” to England – could endure. Those who were not so hard-working or lucky could meanwhile vegetate in a colonial backwater. Their fate was of no particular concern to London.
But a growing number of colonists had never seen England, and had come to regard America as home; the first references to residents of the American colonies as “Americans” date back to the 1730’s and 1740’s. And, as commentator Beeman points out, “the means by which the taxes were imposed – enacted by a distant Parliament, without the colonists’ consent – seemed to Americans to violate a fundamental principle of the English constitution: that of ‘no taxation without representation.’”
And the war came.
Thomas Paine begins Common Sense with a section titled “Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution.” In a very orderly manner, Paine sets forth his overall framing premises – that “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.”
Writing eleven years before the United States Constitution was set down at Philadelphia, Paine anticipates the Framers’ concerns about achieving an effective form of popular government when he writes that elections need to be held frequently, “that the elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the electors”. In a time when many ordinary Americans, on both sides of the political aisle, express a concern about “career politicians” who spend five or more decades in top positions of political power, Paine’s words still resonate.
Proceeding to a discussion of the English constitution specifically, Paine writes that it combines elements of two “ancient tyrannies” with “some new republican materials”, as follows:
First. – The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king.
Secondly. – The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers.
Thirdly. – The new republican materials, in the persons of the commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England.
In seeking, as commentator Beeman puts it, “to demonstrate the folly of an empire in which the colonies were required to occupy a subordinate position in relation to their ‘Mother Country,’” Paine claims that “To say that the constitution of England is a union of three powers reciprocally checking each other, is farcical; either the words have no meaning, or they are flat contradictions.”
Paine sees the institution of monarchy as posing particular problems, stating that “There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required.” He sees monarchy and hereditary succession as conducive to oppression, and to economic injustice, stating in “Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession” that “Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy.”
“Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs” is probably the most famous section of Common Sense. Paine begins by stating that “In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense”, and then he asks that the reader “divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves”. Passages like this one show Paine’s effectiveness as a rhetor, as he establishes an ethos of fair-mindedness.
The grim record of monarchies in medieval and early modern Europe would provide much evidence to support Paine’s claim that “Monarchical governments…are never long at rest.” But then he makes a claim that we of the present day might find questionable – that “Where there are no distinctions, there can be no superiority; perfect equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) at peace.” In fact, history affords us plenty of examples of republics that have fought one another, quite bitterly. But we understand that Paine is issuing a polemic, and we don’t expect polemics to err on the side of fairness.
An appendix to this section of Common Sense, written in response to a message sent to the Americans from King George III, emphasizes Paine’s belief in the uniqueness of the American experiment: “A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.” His words, read at a time when American democracy itself seems to be at risk, still inspire.
This edition of Common Sense also includes the first of the American Crisis essays. Paine wrote these essays in late 1776, when things were not going at all well for the Continental Army or the American patriot cause. The Continentals had had to retreat from Fort Washington (today a park on New York City’s Upper West Side) all the way to Trenton, New Jersey. Continental soldiers were hungry, and their clothing was not adequate for the cold winter weather. Disease was widespread, and defeat – not for the first time – seemed imminent. It was against that background that Paine, with the army on the retreat, set down these inspiring words:
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 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.
And indeed, the year 1776 concluded with a truly glorious American triumph – with Washington’s crossing of the Delaware and his Christmas attack on the Hessians at Trenton. Paine must have felt truly vindicated by the way these events of the war bore out his hopeful words.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense remain part of the American political conversation. When conservative commentator Glenn Beck titled one of his books Common Sense, a number of Paine scholars raced to make clear that Beck’s expression of right-wing populist-nationalist bromides had nothing to do with what Thomas Paine was concerned about in 1776. Yet Beck’s attempt to take on part of Paine’s mantle testifies to how important Paine and his ideas remain today. In the United States of America, and around the world, we still harbour a hope that politics can be conducted on a basis of common sense.
In a helpful and perceptive foreword, Richard Beeman explains how a series of reversals prompted the man whose name was originally Thomas Pain to leave his English homeland. Beeman, who aptly calls Paine “an impoverished, mostly self-educated English immigrant who had arrived in America just a little more than a year before [Common Sense’s] publication”, discusses the setbacks of Paine’s life in England, including a first marriage that ended with his wife’s premature death, and then a brief and disastrous second marriage. With “No wife [and] no job, [and] facing the threat of imprisonment”, Paine found himself “nurturing a deep-seated anger about the unfairness of life in the kingdom ruled by King George III.”
Beeman also provides a helpful reminder of the historical circumstances that had helped to bring on the American Revolution. Thirteen years before the American colonies declared their independence, Britain had won a costly war to keep those colonies British rather than French, and therefore the British Parliament considered it appropriate and necessary that the colonists pay some new taxes to defray the costs of the Seven Years’ War.
From Parliament’s point of view, it all made sense. Thousands of British soldiers had died, and millions of pounds sterling had been spent, to keep British colonists safe from French tyranny. And with British victory in that war, the British colonial system – whereby the hard-working and the lucky among the colonists could take their prosperity “home” to England – could endure. Those who were not so hard-working or lucky could meanwhile vegetate in a colonial backwater. Their fate was of no particular concern to London.
But a growing number of colonists had never seen England, and had come to regard America as home; the first references to residents of the American colonies as “Americans” date back to the 1730’s and 1740’s. And, as commentator Beeman points out, “the means by which the taxes were imposed – enacted by a distant Parliament, without the colonists’ consent – seemed to Americans to violate a fundamental principle of the English constitution: that of ‘no taxation without representation.’”
And the war came.
Thomas Paine begins Common Sense with a section titled “Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution.” In a very orderly manner, Paine sets forth his overall framing premises – that “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.”
Writing eleven years before the United States Constitution was set down at Philadelphia, Paine anticipates the Framers’ concerns about achieving an effective form of popular government when he writes that elections need to be held frequently, “that the elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the electors”. In a time when many ordinary Americans, on both sides of the political aisle, express a concern about “career politicians” who spend five or more decades in top positions of political power, Paine’s words still resonate.
Proceeding to a discussion of the English constitution specifically, Paine writes that it combines elements of two “ancient tyrannies” with “some new republican materials”, as follows:
First. – The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king.
Secondly. – The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers.
Thirdly. – The new republican materials, in the persons of the commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England.
In seeking, as commentator Beeman puts it, “to demonstrate the folly of an empire in which the colonies were required to occupy a subordinate position in relation to their ‘Mother Country,’” Paine claims that “To say that the constitution of England is a union of three powers reciprocally checking each other, is farcical; either the words have no meaning, or they are flat contradictions.”
Paine sees the institution of monarchy as posing particular problems, stating that “There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required.” He sees monarchy and hereditary succession as conducive to oppression, and to economic injustice, stating in “Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession” that “Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy.”
“Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs” is probably the most famous section of Common Sense. Paine begins by stating that “In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense”, and then he asks that the reader “divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves”. Passages like this one show Paine’s effectiveness as a rhetor, as he establishes an ethos of fair-mindedness.
The grim record of monarchies in medieval and early modern Europe would provide much evidence to support Paine’s claim that “Monarchical governments…are never long at rest.” But then he makes a claim that we of the present day might find questionable – that “Where there are no distinctions, there can be no superiority; perfect equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) at peace.” In fact, history affords us plenty of examples of republics that have fought one another, quite bitterly. But we understand that Paine is issuing a polemic, and we don’t expect polemics to err on the side of fairness.
An appendix to this section of Common Sense, written in response to a message sent to the Americans from King George III, emphasizes Paine’s belief in the uniqueness of the American experiment: “A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.” His words, read at a time when American democracy itself seems to be at risk, still inspire.
This edition of Common Sense also includes the first of the American Crisis essays. Paine wrote these essays in late 1776, when things were not going at all well for the Continental Army or the American patriot cause. The Continentals had had to retreat from Fort Washington (today a park on New York City’s Upper West Side) all the way to Trenton, New Jersey. Continental soldiers were hungry, and their clothing was not adequate for the cold winter weather. Disease was widespread, and defeat – not for the first time – seemed imminent. It was against that background that Paine, with the army on the retreat, set down these inspiring words:
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 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.
And indeed, the year 1776 concluded with a truly glorious American triumph – with Washington’s crossing of the Delaware and his Christmas attack on the Hessians at Trenton. Paine must have felt truly vindicated by the way these events of the war bore out his hopeful words.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense remain part of the American political conversation. When conservative commentator Glenn Beck titled one of his books Common Sense, a number of Paine scholars raced to make clear that Beck’s expression of right-wing populist-nationalist bromides had nothing to do with what Thomas Paine was concerned about in 1776. Yet Beck’s attempt to take on part of Paine’s mantle testifies to how important Paine and his ideas remain today. In the United States of America, and around the world, we still harbour a hope that politics can be conducted on a basis of common sense.
February 11, 2022
I enjoyed the first half of this (Common Sense) much more than the second half (The Crisis). Common Sense was Paine's 1775–1776 essay on why America should declare independence from Great Britain. It was well-argued and fascinating to hear his insights from the time. The Crisis was a series of letters to various audiences during the actual revolution. A couple things that were particularly interesting:
- He was, as many of the founding fathers also were, extremely libertarian in his thinking. "Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil."
- He is vehement in arguing against things just because they are tradition or have worked in the past. That is interesting considering modern day politics and how much money and energy is spent trying to vilify "new" ideas.
- He proposed a Congress with many times more congressmen than the one we have.
- He argued for new bills requiring 60 percent of the vote rather than a simple majority, with is also relevant to current debate.
- He argued that urban areas should have more influence in elections than rural areas, which is an argument against the electoral college system we have.
- He was, as many of the founding fathers also were, extremely libertarian in his thinking. "Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil."
- He is vehement in arguing against things just because they are tradition or have worked in the past. That is interesting considering modern day politics and how much money and energy is spent trying to vilify "new" ideas.
- He proposed a Congress with many times more congressmen than the one we have.
- He argued for new bills requiring 60 percent of the vote rather than a simple majority, with is also relevant to current debate.
- He argued that urban areas should have more influence in elections than rural areas, which is an argument against the electoral college system we have.
November 12, 2018
It's saddening to think that not many know of the man Thomas Paine, and it saddens me even more that his death went unnoticed by the men whose state he had a part in shaping.
I came into this work initially thinking that it would give me some idea about the birth of the American Revolution, who Thomas Paine helped move forward with this magnificent political piece. But Common Sense proved to be very far from being a time-specific piece. I strongly believe that Common Sense is timeless, and may very well be needed now more than ever, as different peoples still struggle for freedom and independence. There are still governments that are monarchical, and Common Sense demonstrates precisely why this system is flawed.
Thomas Paine is a very passionate man, and this is demonstrated here in his writing. I often found myself re-reading passages and phrases simply due to how brilliant they were. It's easy to see how Common Sense fuelled the 'rebellious' fire in the inhabitants of America and moved them enough to view their separation from Great-Britain as the only way forward. Paine's method in which he is so politically passionate has compelled me to read his other works.
I recommend this to anyone who is interested in the American Revolution or even just Politics.
I came into this work initially thinking that it would give me some idea about the birth of the American Revolution, who Thomas Paine helped move forward with this magnificent political piece. But Common Sense proved to be very far from being a time-specific piece. I strongly believe that Common Sense is timeless, and may very well be needed now more than ever, as different peoples still struggle for freedom and independence. There are still governments that are monarchical, and Common Sense demonstrates precisely why this system is flawed.
Thomas Paine is a very passionate man, and this is demonstrated here in his writing. I often found myself re-reading passages and phrases simply due to how brilliant they were. It's easy to see how Common Sense fuelled the 'rebellious' fire in the inhabitants of America and moved them enough to view their separation from Great-Britain as the only way forward. Paine's method in which he is so politically passionate has compelled me to read his other works.
I recommend this to anyone who is interested in the American Revolution or even just Politics.
November 9, 2017
This essay was published in february 1776, some months before the Declaration of Independence. Paine wrote this, after migrating from a miserable life in England to a better life in a new country.
As a non-American, I understand that this essay was one of the first times that a national American identity was forwarded. And, at least according to Paine, this identity was, at first, mainly inspired by the common battle against English oppression.
The essay is one long tirade against the despotism of the English king, about the illegitimate power England holds over the American colonies and about the possibilities of America to unite and form a prosperous and (geographically) safe country.
Boring, but important. Paine deserves to be read more, even though he isn't a learned writer. It is easy to see he had no education: all his arguments lack sophistication - not that this is bad per se, but combined with dull writing, it is.
As a non-American, I understand that this essay was one of the first times that a national American identity was forwarded. And, at least according to Paine, this identity was, at first, mainly inspired by the common battle against English oppression.
The essay is one long tirade against the despotism of the English king, about the illegitimate power England holds over the American colonies and about the possibilities of America to unite and form a prosperous and (geographically) safe country.
Boring, but important. Paine deserves to be read more, even though he isn't a learned writer. It is easy to see he had no education: all his arguments lack sophistication - not that this is bad per se, but combined with dull writing, it is.
January 12, 2026
Second book of 2026 is also a classic of sorts. My interest was piqued as I was watching the recent Ken Burn's American Revolution documentary ("revolutionmaxxing," as the kids would say). I'm fairly certain that Paine would want to **** President Donald Trump. A few of the arguments are still interesting, although much is covered in any intro to political philosophy class. Was not expecting so much information about ship building or reflections on Jewish history... Overall many Americans could benefit from reading this.
March 30, 2018
I have a natural gravitation towards books that are either very influential, or historically relevant. Not only do I find them fascinating but it helps to expand my tastes in literature as well as understanding of important events.
“Were it no for the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.” -John Adams, Second President of the United States.
Common Sense was written half a year before the American Revolution, and is believed by many to be the kindling that flamed the fans of war, and thirst for separation from Britain.
The book first goes through Paine’s life as the son of a poor corset maker. At age sixteen, Pain runs away from him to become a Privateer, manned by a man known as Captain Death, on a ship called Terrible (sometimes life is darkly funny). Later in life he becomes an excise collector and political pamphleteer ... then moves to America with the encouragement of Benjamin Franklin.
Then it gets into the meat of the diatribe...
What I find most engaging about Paine’s writing is his easy to understand arguments. And while this just may be due to my prejudices as an American already growing up with these believes and doctrines, Paine’s beliefs about the purpose of government, the absurdity of monarchy, etc., mirror my own quite nicely.
“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in the best state is but a necessary evil.”
A lot of people envision government as a force to make things “better”; an entity that is either supposed to provide you with leisure and comfort, or bring people towards some form of utopia. Whereas Paine argues that government only exists to control our vices and bring about ample punishment to those that harms one another. It’s “necessary” because humans are always going to be evil and commit heinous acts against one another, yet “evil” because humans are ALSO the ones carrying out the justice, and thus can (and does) lead to corruption.
Probably my favorite section of the book is where Paine argues against the practicality of a monarchial system of government.
“There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless.”
He goes on to argue against people’s claim that hereditary kings are somehow placed there by divine right ... by appealing to the Book of Samuel, that makes a strong case against the use of king. In the Old Testament days the Hebrews didn’t have a royal lineage but instead were ruled by groups of judges, as well as prophets (similar to the structure of a republic). It was the sin of the Jews when they beseeched the Lord to “give them a king like other nations so that he may rule over us.” ... and the Lord took as it as a rejection against HIM.
The fact that he makes Biblical arguments against the use of kings is interesting because later in life Paine becomes an atheist (or more accurately, a deist).
Looking back on early America it definitely does seem exceedingly odd that an island (such as England), from over 4,000 miles away across the ocean, could ever claim a whole continent (America) as her subjects. Before the war began, Americans thought of themselves as “British Subjects” beholden to the “English Constitution”, and due to the unfair taxing of George III, Americans would send petitions on ships to England to address their grievances. It would take months to get a reply, and were it not for the King’s obstinance, Americans might not have ever fought a war for Independence.
The latter half of the book didn’t interest me as much as it talked about more specific matters in that time period: how well equipped America was for battle, how many ships, guns, fighting men, coastline, etc, ... not that it wasn’t decently interesting, it just wasn’t really relevant to current day events.
Recommended for anyone that’s interested in American History.
“... we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to the begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.”
-Tim
“Were it no for the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.” -John Adams, Second President of the United States.
Common Sense was written half a year before the American Revolution, and is believed by many to be the kindling that flamed the fans of war, and thirst for separation from Britain.
The book first goes through Paine’s life as the son of a poor corset maker. At age sixteen, Pain runs away from him to become a Privateer, manned by a man known as Captain Death, on a ship called Terrible (sometimes life is darkly funny). Later in life he becomes an excise collector and political pamphleteer ... then moves to America with the encouragement of Benjamin Franklin.
Then it gets into the meat of the diatribe...
What I find most engaging about Paine’s writing is his easy to understand arguments. And while this just may be due to my prejudices as an American already growing up with these believes and doctrines, Paine’s beliefs about the purpose of government, the absurdity of monarchy, etc., mirror my own quite nicely.
“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in the best state is but a necessary evil.”
A lot of people envision government as a force to make things “better”; an entity that is either supposed to provide you with leisure and comfort, or bring people towards some form of utopia. Whereas Paine argues that government only exists to control our vices and bring about ample punishment to those that harms one another. It’s “necessary” because humans are always going to be evil and commit heinous acts against one another, yet “evil” because humans are ALSO the ones carrying out the justice, and thus can (and does) lead to corruption.
Probably my favorite section of the book is where Paine argues against the practicality of a monarchial system of government.
“There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless.”
He goes on to argue against people’s claim that hereditary kings are somehow placed there by divine right ... by appealing to the Book of Samuel, that makes a strong case against the use of king. In the Old Testament days the Hebrews didn’t have a royal lineage but instead were ruled by groups of judges, as well as prophets (similar to the structure of a republic). It was the sin of the Jews when they beseeched the Lord to “give them a king like other nations so that he may rule over us.” ... and the Lord took as it as a rejection against HIM.
The fact that he makes Biblical arguments against the use of kings is interesting because later in life Paine becomes an atheist (or more accurately, a deist).
Looking back on early America it definitely does seem exceedingly odd that an island (such as England), from over 4,000 miles away across the ocean, could ever claim a whole continent (America) as her subjects. Before the war began, Americans thought of themselves as “British Subjects” beholden to the “English Constitution”, and due to the unfair taxing of George III, Americans would send petitions on ships to England to address their grievances. It would take months to get a reply, and were it not for the King’s obstinance, Americans might not have ever fought a war for Independence.
The latter half of the book didn’t interest me as much as it talked about more specific matters in that time period: how well equipped America was for battle, how many ships, guns, fighting men, coastline, etc, ... not that it wasn’t decently interesting, it just wasn’t really relevant to current day events.
Recommended for anyone that’s interested in American History.
“... we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to the begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.”
-Tim
March 23, 2025
It is commonplace to find a makeweight for Paine's Common Sense and the first of the American Crisis has been drafted on more than one occasion to fill that place. Tonally, the two documents are somewhat at cross purposes—the one to make plain the case that war is inevitable and independence the desirable result, the other a more obvious effort to make the best of a difficult situation and offer future hope at a time of present danger. In other words, CS is a forward-looking, optimistic piece of propaganda, while AC necessarily has the (perhaps) more challenging task of putting bad things (the recent military setbacks of the Continental army) in as good a light as possible. Nevertheless, the same gift for turning a phrase, for balanced use of antithesis, for repetition and euphony are everywhere present in both documents. At a time when Democrats are looking about in disarray and panic, it is worth recalling Paine's phrasing in AC 1 that "panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows thro' them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain for ever undiscovered.... They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world" (91). Panics tell us who the traitors and hypocrites and liars are because they embolden the weak-minded to show their true colors. A modern Paine could make a meal of the contemporary and temporarily empowered avatars of intolerance wherever they are found. This is a decent, inexpensive edition with a reasonable introduction that makes the key contemporary issues behind Paine's writing clear. Not a scholarly edition—no notes, few (and obvious) suggestions for further reading.
August 17, 2025
Paine, without formal education, was able to excite the passions of so many common Americans in such a fluid and convincing way. A true master of rhetoric, an ENTP at his best: a well-oiled machine if you will. He couldn't hold down a job or carry on his paternal legacy in staymaking, but he could damn sure write a political pamphlet that's for certain (and he wasn't scared to get his hands dirty: recounting his stay at fort Lee with General Greene in American Crisis I). A polemic wrote 250 years ago, something expected to be dry and unrelatable, it comes across as authentically witty and prophetic; a lot of what Paine wrote here could very well resonate with the modern reader and applies to contemporary American politics. Where the future is unstable and our political footing is unsteady, Paine reminds the reader what the ideal government sets out to achieve and implores you to act now (if not for yourself then think of the children you worm, coward, tory, naked indian, etc.).
Required reading for every citizen of the world, I've said my piece.
Required reading for every citizen of the world, I've said my piece.
May 12, 2024
In the fewest pages possible Paine sketches the main themes of the American Revolution—and the character of the United States itself thereafter. Common Sense is historical study, fierce polemic, and impassioned personal plea, all at once. The centuries have dimmed our feeling for the circumstances, but Paine’s appeal still rings loud and clear and true.
December 30, 2021
Imperative to understanding the rationale for American Independence.
February 22, 2021
Really gives a great insight into the founding of America. I thought the articles in the second part--The Crisis--were just as good as the main Common Sense document.
Read
January 27, 2021Read for my American Lit Class
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews