American Literature / Unit 5 AML 0410 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Thomas Paine and *Common Sense*
Captions available
The idea
An English corset-maker's apprentice turned excise officer, dismissed after petitioning Parliament for a living wage, Paine reached America in seventeen seventy-four. Common Sense, published in seventeen seventy-six, argued for independence in plain language addressed to ordinary readers rather than to lawyers.
In practice
The argument for independence, in common words.
Where people slip
Its plainness is a political choice about audience.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it