Common Sense
A pamphlet published in Philadelphia in January 1776, arguing in plain prose that the colonies should separate from Britain and that monarchy is an absurd form of government. It sold in enormous numbers and is usually credited with making independence thinkable for ordinary readers.
Paine writes to be understood by anyone who can read, and the rhetorical moves are still recognisable: short sentences, direct address, biblical allusion, and a refusal to treat tradition as an argument. Read it for the technique as much as the politics; it is a masterclass in persuasion.
Public-domain status
First published in 1776. In the United States, works published before 1930 are in the public domain. In the European Union the general term is the life of the author plus 70 years; Thomas Paine died in 1809, so this work has been free to republish there since 1880.
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- Project Gutenberg, ebook no. 147 — plain text, EPUB and Kindle, checked by us
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Keep reading
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin — Benjamin Franklin, 1791
- Pride and Prejudice — Jane Austen, 1813
- Moby-Dick — Herman Melville, 1851
- Jane Eyre — Charlotte Brontë, 1847
- Philadelphia — the city behind the books
- Reading lists — 19 ways through the collection
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