Common sense

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Common sense

Thomas Paine ; edited by Edward Larkin

(Broadview editions)

Broadview Press, c2004

  • : pbk

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Note

Chronology: p. 37-39

Bibliography: p. 35-36, 251-252

Description and Table of Contents

Description

When Common Sense was published in January 1776, it sold, by some estimates, a stunning 150,000 copies in the colonies. What exactly made this pamphlet so appealing? This is a question not only about the state of mind of Paine's audience, but also about the role of public opinion and debate, the function of the press, and the shape of political culture in the colonies. This Broadview edition of Paine's famous pamphlet attempts to reconstruct the context in which it appeared and to recapture the energy and passion of the dispute over the political future of the British colonies in North America. Included along with the text of Common Sense are some of the contemporary arguments for and against the Revolution by John Dickinson, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson; materials from the debate that followed the pamphlet's publication showing the difficulty of the choices facing the colonists; the Declaration of Independence; and the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction Works Cited Thomas Paine: A Brief Chronology A Note on the Texts Common Sense Appendix A: Antecedents to Common Sense [John Adams], "A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law," Boston Gazette (1765) [John Dickinson], Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (1767) Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774) Appendix B: Responses to Common Sense [Charles Inglis], The True Interest of America Impartially Stated (1776) Candidus [James Chalmers], Plain Truth (1776) Selections from "Cato's Letters" [William Smith] and "The Forester" [Thomas Paine], Pennsylvania Gazette(1776) [John Adams], Thoughts on Government (1776) Appendix C: Political Documents The Declaration of Independence (1776) The Constitution of Pennsylvania (1776) Appendix D: Paine's American Crisis (1776) Suggestions for Further Reading

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