Thomas Paine: Common Sense

October 27, 20261 min readBy PinGallery

Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense in January 1776, a pamphlet that argued plainly for independence from Britain.

It sold in huge numbers and helped turn public opinion toward independence.

The American Crisis

In December 1776 Paine began The American Crisis with the line these are the times that try men’s souls. Washington had it read to his troops.

Visit the Thomas Paine Cottage in New Rochelle, New York.

The Marquis de Lafayette was a young French aristocrat who joined the American cause and became a major…

Alexander Hamilton served as an aide to George Washington and led an attack at the Battle of Yorktown.

Crispus Attucks was a man of African and Native American descent who was killed in the Boston Massacre…

Nathan Hale was a young Connecticut schoolteacher who volunteered to gather intelligence behind British lines in 1776.