Common Sense
By Thomas Paine and Mint Editions
4/5
()
About this ebook
Struggling under oppressive laws, high taxes, and the heavy hand of King George the Third’s rule, the people living in early America longed for freedoms seemingly out of reach. Talk of rebellion stayed in bars and in the secret of homes, never really given serious consideration until Thomas Paine picked up a pen. Common Sense was the one of the first major cases made public for independence. Written as if it were a sermon, Paine advocates for religious freedom and independence from Great Britain. Common Sense is separated by four sections: “Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution”, “Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession,” “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs,” and “On the Present Ability of America, With Some Miscellaneous Reflections.” Each use concise and persuasive prose to address Paine’s main points and arguments for independence, based on the origins of the British government, the current state of America, and the issues of each. With Common Sense Thomas Paine entered a frequently talked about and yearned for solution for the young, struggling nation into public discourse for serious consideration.
"Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain,” John Adams said of Thomas Paine . Common Sense not only helped to inspire the American Revolution, but it also gave the founding fathers direction. Using clear, concise, and persuasive prose, Paine argues for American independence before other public figures of his time had the bravery or eloquence to. The ideologies of Common Sense are still employed in government today, and is a testament to the American spirit.
Now with in a modern, easy-to-read font and with a distinct cover design, Common Sense by Thomas Paine embodies the American spirit and ingenuity like never before. It is a must-have for any collection seeking to appreciate American history and the origins of American democracy.
Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.
With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was a political activist and philosopher best known for his pamphlet Common Sense. The popularity and significance of his writings, including The American Crisis, have led historians to call him the Father of the American Revolution.
Read more from Thomas Paine
A Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rights of Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Thomas Paine Reader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thomas Paine Collection: Common Sense, Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rights Of Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Common Sense and Other Writings (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thomas Paine on Liberty: Common Sense and Other Writings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Enlightenment Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCommon Sense, Rights of Man, and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rights of Man (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Daily Thomas Paine: A Year of Common-Sense Quotes for a Nonsensical Age Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCommon Sense: and Other Writings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rights of Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Water for Hartford: The Story of the Hartford Water Works and the Metropolitan District Commission Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWater for Hartford: The Story of the Hartford Water Works and the Metropolitan District Commission Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe U.S. Constitution: Anti-Federalist Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Crisis (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crisis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Common Sense
Related ebooks
Complete Works: The Unconstitutionality of Slavery, No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority, Natural Law… Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (Translated by G. D. H. Cole) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Amazing Web Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCommon Sense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reflections on the Revolution in France Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Republic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Looking Backward, 2000–1887 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Federalist Papers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woven Figure: Conservatism and America's Fabric Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conscience of a Conservative Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Walden and Civil Disobedience Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Reason Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anthem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hound of the Baskervilles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Education of Henry Adams Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCivil Disobedience Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Machine Stops Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The American Republic : constitution, tendencies and destiny Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Brothers Karamazov Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rights of Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Master and Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParadise Lost and Paradise Regained Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Common Sense, Rights of Man, and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great Society: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
United States History For You
The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5U.S. History 101: Historic Events, Key People, Important Locations, and More! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Common Sense
881 ratings14 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I don't understand why this book is not required reading in school, indeed why it not a required study. It is one of the basis of the American political structure. What Paine wrote is one of the foundations of Independence.I will not discuss the contents of the book (actually a pamphlet and quite short). I urge everyone to read it for themselves.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Published in 1776, Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Like all dated material, a little bit of a challenge to get through, but well worth the effort. In this brief little book, Paine lays out the underlying rationale of the country's founding and impetus for the revolution. Long story short: the King is not law: the Law is king. Nuff said.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As powerful today as it was 240 years ago. So short, should be required reading for all Americans. Society promotes our happiness by uniting our affections, government negatively by restraining our vices.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thomas Paine did a great job explaining to the common man why it was necessary to break away from Britain. While many of were made to read this when we were young it is always good to go back to these classics and re-read them with a more mature mind set.This weekend we celebrate our 235 year as a free country and these documents are important to read and re-read throughout our lives to ensure that we remember why we are the country we are.Happy Independence Day!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It seems wrong to rate a masterpiece that changed the course of American History. It's like rating the Constitution or the works of Plato. I give it five stars because it is READABLE. The words are still easy to understand and moving. The first paragraph of this historic pamphlet is guaranteed to make your blood hot.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you ("you" as in US citizens) haven't read this book, you should. And the narrator gives it all the force and emotion needed to be read as it should (audiobook)! Great!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nice short read. Interesting to see what someone like Thomas Paine was actually thinking at the time of the American Revolution. I would recommend reading it, even though I did not exactly love reading it. It was good, but not awesome.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A classic, and a pivotal work, in U.S. history.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A must read "pamphlet" of the day, which, is uncommonly apropos to today! In Common Sense, Mr. Paine deconstructs the monarchy of Great Britain and its destroys its concept of empire; where by, he cries for the independence of a continent from a tiny island crown.In his essay, he lays out a framework which fairly closely resembles today's republican government of America. I found some of his most famous and repeated line, yet found myself underlining much more.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Indeholder "Common Sense", "Agrarian Justice"."Common Sense" handler om ???"Agrarian Justice" handler om ???Dette værk satte fut i den amerikanske frihedstanke, hvilket alene er nok til at sikre det et langt liv. Men derudover er det meget velskrevet.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5These essays could be written yesterday. They are so timely, even today.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thomas Paine references history and the Bible. He assumes his readers are well education in both history and the Bible. He also brings in humor to his writing.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The little pamphlet that won the Revolution.
Book preview
Common Sense - Thomas Paine
Common Sense
Thomas Paine
Common Sense was first published in 1776.
This edition published by Mint Editions 2020.
ISBN 9781513267456 | E-ISBN 9781513272450
Published by Mint Editions®
minteditionbooks.com
Publishing Director: Jennifer Newens
Design & Production: Rachel Lopez Metzger
Typesetting: Westchester Publishing Services
SUBJECTS
1. OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL, WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
2. OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION
3. THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS
4. OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA, WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLECTIONS
APPENDIX
OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL, WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
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.
Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which, would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen, that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; and this remissness, will point out the necessity, of establishing some form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue.
Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the title only of regulations, and be enforced by no other penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man, by natural right, will have a seat.
But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those who appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If the colony continue increasing, it will become necessary to augment the number of the representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the electors , prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often; because as the elected might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflexion of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of government, and the happiness of the governed.
Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government,