Common Sense

This 250th Warbler Classics anniversary edition of Common Sense includes essential and illuminating contributions by Christopher Hitchens and Robert G. Ingersoll along with a biographical timeline.

First published in early 1776, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense ignited the revolutionary spirit of the American colonies. Written in bold, accessible prose, it transformed abstract debate into urgent conviction, persuading those in leadership and ordinary citizens that independence was both natural and necessary. Circulating far and wide, the pamphlet’s radical clarity turned private discontent into public demand, making it one of the least acknowledged yet most decisive forces behind America’s break with Britain.

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was an English-born radical, pamphleteer, and revolutionary who became the voice of American independence with Common Sense (1776), a fiery appeal for liberty and self-government that rallied the colonies toward revolution.

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) was an essayist, critic, and polemicist, who championed the enduring force of reason and dissent that Paine embodied. His modern assessment of Common Sense revitalized Paine’s revolutionary argument for a new generation, recognizing in Paine a fellow defender of secular thought, moral courage, and the “common sense” of independence from tyranny.

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899), known as “The Great Agnostic,” celebrated Paine as a prophet of freedom and rational inquiry. In his lectures and essays, Ingersoll defended Common Sense and its author against centuries of vilification, insisting that Paine’s fearless advocacy of independence and human rights laid the groundwork for both American democracy and modern free thought.