Nonfiction · 1776
Common Sense and The American Crisis
Two works that argued a revolution into being. Common Sense appeared anonymously in Philadelphia in January 1776 — a plain-spoken case that independence from Britain was not treason but common sense, and the most widely read pamphlet of the American Revolution. The American Crisis followed: sixteen papers signed “Common Sense,” written between December 1776 and the peace of 1783 as the war itself rose and fell, the first of them opening with a sentence that entered the language — “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
This Bibliomancer edition presents both works complete in one volume: the pamphlet first, then the Crisis papers in the order they appeared.
Contents
- Common Sense (1776)
- Epigraph
- Introduction
- Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution
- Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession
- Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs
- Of the Present Ability of America, with Some Miscellaneous Reflexions
- Appendix
- The American Crisis (1776)
- The Crisis I. (These Are the Times That Try Men’s Souls)
- The Crisis II. To Lord Howe
- The Crisis III. (In the Progress of Politics)
- The Crisis IV. (Those Who Expect to Reap the Blessings of Freedom)
- The Crisis. V. To Gen. Sir William Howe
- To the Inhabitants of America
- The Crisis VI. (To the Earl of Carlisle and General Clinton)
- The Crisis VII. To the People of England
- The Crisis VIII. Address to the People of England
- The Crisis IX. (Had America Pursued Her Advantages)
- The Crisis Extraordinary
- The Crisis X. On the King of England’s Speech
- The Crisis. XI. On the Present State of News
- A Supernumerary Crisis
- The Crisis. XII. To the Earl of Shelburne
- The Crisis. XIII. Thoughts on the Peace, and Probable Advantages Thereof
- A Supernumerary Crisis: To the People of America
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About this edition
The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.
Part of Political Thought.
Source mind
About the author
1737–1809 · Enlightenment
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was born in Thetford, Norfolk, worked as a staymaker and excise officer, and emigrated to Philadelphia in 1774 with a letter from Benjamin Franklin. Common Sense (1776) and the American Crisis papers made him the voice of the Revolution; Rights of Man (1791–92) defended the French Revolution and forced him to flee England; The Age of Reason (1794–95) attacked organised religion. He died in New York, largely ostracised.
Adjacent records
