History of the United States I / Unit 6 USH1 0756 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Common Sense
Captions available
The idea
Thomas Paine published Common Sense in January seventeen seventy-six, calling George the Third a royal brute and questioning the right of an island to rule a continent.
In practice
An argument for republicanism, that elected representatives rather than a monarch should govern.
Where people slip
The case was made in plain language for a mass readership, which is why it worked where learned pamphlets had not.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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