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In its time over 600,000 copies of Common Sense were circulated through the Colonies. Not one to be "politically correct" Thomas Paine's little book was key to starting a revolution we know today as the United States of America. Quotes from within these pages: "A long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT" "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind." "A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived." "The present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected, the whole continent will partake of the misfortune." "The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never happens to a nation but once . . . the time of forming itself into a government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors."

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 8 reviews)

Five stars should be default! Required reading for a true Patriot!

It is quite unfortunate that the maladroit public school system has failed to have this as a required reading. Thomas Paine has obtained immortality with these words in the minds of true conservative Constitutionalists-that of which has been obscured by both the Republicrats and Demopulicans. Having not read this in high school, I am glad I did. In a time when America is in an aberration from her fundamental principles I find myself genuflecting to her Constitution for insight-for that I am ridiculed, receive derision, and considered a conspiracy theorist and unpatriotic. Lamentation is among those of us who see the force that is reverting this country to a fusion between Fascism and Communism-a new hybrid of government. Fortunately, this is a REPUBLIC and we can fire back through political intervention and fiscal boycotts. We find it facile to intervene where we must, but that ability is shifting to arduousness with laws such as the Patriot Act-which makes docile dissent an act of terrorism. What Paine wrote in this pamphlet is very well applicable to our relationship to the Federal Government in the present. For me, this book gave me the boon to spread the message of what America was founded upon, the Constitution.

There are those men/women that are born from the process of reproduction that go beyond the mere existence of flesh and truly lubricate their being into the gears of this Machine we call life. From the conception of their ornate thoughts to the inoculation of their fluid into our being, at times we can overlook them in the present, but in the future, we revere them for their message. How many of these individuals have we murdered, assassinated, tortured, ostracized or allowed their message to become senescent in society? The recoil can at times prove that we are indeed merely in duress by the masses, but there are those of us that see the profundity in the present. Thomas Paine was not one who was ostracized or murdered for his ideologies, but it calls forth a siren in the present that is commensurate to Ron Paul's The Revolution: A Manifesto.

If I am not mistaken, I am sure I can be indicted for an act of terrorism, have Storm Troopers breach my home without warrant, be shipped to Guantanamo Bay for torture and denied rights to Due Process, all for exercising my right to free speech by writing this review; and, not to mention, for saying that the Federal Government is subordinate to the Constitution and must yield to the States; States yield to Counties; Counties to Cities; Cities to Communities; and Communities to Families-that is "the REPUBLIC for which we stand!"
September 10, 2008

A Book That Changed the World!

Common sense was at the right place at the right time, written by the right person. It created an inflection point that changed the world!

Most major changes in life are cause by events called inflection points. An inflection point is an event that changes how you view the world, who you are, or your life in general.

Think 9-11. People in the United States felt safer before that day. After 9-11 we realized our vulnerability to terrorists. There are many inflection points in our history.

Tomas Paine's Common Sense created a major inflection point in history!

In early 1776 Thomas Paine published a 46 page pamphlet called Common Sense. It helped inspire the writing of the Declaration of Independence and motivated a nation to start a revolution.

The book was written for the common man and was estimated to have sold 120,000 copies within three months of publication and 500,000 copies within a year. It is worth noting that this was in the United States when there were only 3 million people--and many couldn't read!

John Adams and others had been arguing for the United States to become an independent nation. The release of Paine's Common Sense was the inflection point that caused the nation to become independent.

Thomas Paine used his Critical Thinking skills to determine that the time was right to inspire the people to take action. He argued convincingly that the young nation had to make a choice for independence now--not later. Paine explained that within fifty years the personal interests of individuals who would acquire status and money by then would resist such a change. And, the colonies would be more established and would resist such a change.

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right." ~Thomas Paine

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

June 02, 2008

American Prophecy

This book was originally written as a pamphlet in 1776. It was crucial in advancing the thought and spirit of the American Revolution to the masses. I found this book to be amazing in how forward thinking the author was. Declaring "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind". He spends the first part of the book logically explaining that Monarchy is wrong and having heirs to a throne is ridiculous. He uses the bible as part of his argument that kings and kingdoms are man made and the origin is corrupt so they should be done away with. He goes on to explain how a fair practice of representation in government could take place in the colonies after independance. He writes that America had no logical need to submit to Great Britain's dominion any longer and that after the treatment America received, she had every right to independance. Paine predicts that America would emerge as a powerful nation with its natural resources and location. He says that the pride of kings results in wars. He states that in a monarchy the King is law, in a democracy Law is king. This book is a wonderful trip into logic and reason concerning Americas independance, I enjoyed it. Thomas Paine's vision of America came true, and you can read that vision in this book.
April 17, 2008

The most important book in America's history

"Men read by way of revenge."

A forerunner of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Common Sense should properly be regarded (at least in a historical, though not a legal, sense) as one of the founding documents of this nation.

Paine makes the case for independence in strong moral terms, clearly based on the Enlightenment political theories of John Locke. The list he gives of the Crown's abuses should already be familiar to the reader from the Declaration (Jefferson did not give sufficient credit to Paine for his obvious influence on that document), though Paine's recounting is somewhat more detailed, as he could treat the topic at greater length in his pamphlet.

Paine also offers suggestions in some detail about a Constitutional Congress and the drafting of such a document, and based on the course of subsequent events it seems that the other Founders took Paine's suggestions to heart.

And of course, few other books in history (and particularly non-fiction works, since art can have a power that plain argument does not) have so effectively rallied public opinion.

Read this book. You will be surprised, even if your expectations were already high, and you will certainly be inspired.
March 12, 2008

We have it in our power to begin the world over again

This was a required reading for a graduate humanities class. John Keane's biography succinctly showed that Tom Paine (1737-1809) was the consummate revolutionary and a daring adventurer. Not only was he an important figure in the American Revolution, but he also traveled to France in 1791 to give that revolution a push. Paine traveled from England, just in time to stoke the flames of the revolution with his pamphlet Common Sense, in January 1776. To call Common Sense a sensation in the colonies is actually a bit of an understatement. It was an unparallel sensation and monumental work of Enlightenment rhetoric that quickly fanned the flames of rebellion throughout the colonies. In four months, over 120,000 copies were printed in the colonies--over 500,000 copies by years end. No other pamphlet printed in seventeenth century America came close to its success. Most importantly, Common Sense served to get the colonial patriots to drop their fear of open rebellion, and also emboldened those delegates who favored declaring independence from Britain. The delegates now had the confidence that a large segment of the colonists would support rebellion. Similar to the Declaration of Independence, the philosophical ideas in Common Sense are primarily from the English philosopher, John Locke (1632-1704). The most moving quote from the pamphlet became quite prophetic, when one considers the impact it ultimately had on the delegates in the congress, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, and on the world. "We have it in our power to begin the world over again."

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I heartily recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history.

July 05, 2007

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The Federalist Papers (Signet Classics)
by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, Clinton Rossiter
by Charles R. Kesler

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and StickYou with the Bill)
by David Cay Johnston

Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine (Signet Classics)
by Thomas Paine
by Jr., Jack Fruchtman, Sidney Hook

Thomas Paine and the Promise of America
by Harvey J. Kaye

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Signet Classics)
by Frederick Douglass
by Gregory Stephens, Peter J. Gomes