Common Sense is really two different works of literature. There is the one with which modern readers are all familiar; the clarion call to raise arms in a successful revolution against an existing empire which established a brand new type of government that would go on to sweep the planet. The philosophical manifesto exposing the fundamental failure and inherent evil underpinnings of government by monarchy. But that is not the Common Sense that set sales records among colonists.
Thomas Paine differed substantially from the bulk of those other famous names associated with the American Revolution by virtue a field of vision which extended much farther into the future with a strategic goal which would only begin with colonial independence, not end with it. For the architects of the revolution, the end game was short-term: establish a new nation no longer under the yoke of the King of England. Paine was writing as if American independence was a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is the reason why so much of his text expands beyond the specificity of colonial interest to explore and analyze monarchy and the aristocracy as existential threats to people everywhere which needed to be stamped out forever. That is the book which exists today and it is the book which Paine wrote for himself.
The book (or, technically, pamphlet) that Paine published for readers six months the publication of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence is essentially self-contained entirely within the chapter subtitled “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs.” This is the meat of the pamphlet; for Paine’s primary purpose in composition, the rest is essentially self-indulgence for the short-term with the goal of inspiring readers of the future. Common Sense for readers known as colonists rather than readers known as Americans is essentially propagandist tract with a purpose.
For Paine, the essence of the task was to convince those remaining on the fence that the only answer to all their woes was revolution against England and not reconciliation with it. “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs” negatively reinforces reconciliation by name an average of almost once every single page. Among other things reconciliation is characterized as farcical, a fallacious dream, a dangerous doctrine and ruinous.
The timing of the appearance of Common Sense is essential in fully appreciating the impact that “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs” had on the colonists. The rejection of the Olive Branch Petition by the British and the subsequent identification of pro-revolutionary colonists as traitors to the crown by King George III made it manifestly evident to representatives at the Continental Congress that the situation had reached a tipping point in which there could be only two possible outcomes: revolution and independence or a resignation to the utter submission to the England. Paine recognized this as well and set forth with vigor to convince the readership of the country to give up any lingering dreams they might have of still being able to negotiate a reconciliation with the King that would not just put an end to the pressures already in place, but establish a newly created path toward more systemic autonomy. The consequences were crystal clear: if the colonists did not unite in large majorities to stand for revolution rather reconciliation, the future was going to be far worse for them all.
Six months later, a Declaration of Independence which contained language bearing a suspiciously familiar ring to became all the evidence needed that Common Sense had fulfilled its intended purpose. For Paine, it was a just a matter of time before all the rest of it became more important than section three.
