Required reading - well worth the time - and quite entertaining.

Favorite quote:

"One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion."

Another quote, which I find very applicable to current politics:

"Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different things."

It's short, entertaining and very, very good. Read it. Borrow my copy. ( )

Hearing about Thomas Paine's Common Sense throughout the years, I always wondered how so small a book could help ignite the flames of independence and war. I get it now!

I love how he kept expressing how the time was NOW to go for independence. Earlier or later would have proved fruitless.

This was the right man at the right time saying the right things. ( )

Viewed through Colonial eyes, it would have indeed been revolutionary. I enjoyed the Bibilical history parallels. ( )

"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. ( )

Common Sense is one of the most important documents in American history. It aptly illustrates the reasons the colonies felt it necessary to secede from Britain without falling back on slander and bombast. It may be far longer than the Declaration of Independence, and cover many of the same topics, but the depth with which Paine explores each of his complaints is without parallel.
A bit dense for a single sitting, but highly readable considering it is a serious political commentary written over two hundred years ago. ( )