Читать книгу American Democracy in Context - Joseph A. Pika - Страница 63

After the violence in Lexington and Concord, the colonies quickly sent representatives to the Second Continental Congress to oversee steps toward independence and manage the impending war. By the time the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, full-fledged war had already erupted. The congress officially created the Continental Army and appointed George Washington to command it. But more than a year would pass before the Second Continental Congress voted to approve the Declaration of Independence. The congress then turned to writing the first, ill-fated national constitution: the Articles of Confederation.

The delay in formally declaring independence occurred because many colonists, who came predominantly from Britain, remained reluctant to make a full break with their homeland. Breaking their allegiance to the king—a powerful symbolic figure—proved especially difficult. Then, in January 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously published his 48-page pamphlet, Common Sense. Saying, “I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense,” Paine provided a compelling justification for independence, and did so—as historian Joseph J. Ellis put it—“in language that was simultaneously simple and dazzling.”¹⁵ Paine took aim at King George III himself and sharply dismissed the institution of monarchy. The pamphlet’s timing could not have been better: Colonists had just learned that the king had rejected any effort to resolve the dispute with them diplomatically and would instead seek to smash the rebellion with military force.¹⁶ Breaking allegiance to the crown no longer seemed so difficult. And even though Parliament had been the source of the legislation that had prompted the dispute between Britain and the colonies, the king now became the symbolic enemy.

Common Sense was an instant best seller, with some 120,000 copies sold in the first three months alone and 500,000 copies sold within a year. This was at a time when the official population count of the colonies (excluding slaves and Native Americans) was only about 2.5 million.¹⁷ A work would need to sell nearly 62 million copies to reach a proportionate number of Americans today.¹⁸ Clearly, Paine’s rallying cry for independence had hit a nerve.

This British cartoon dismisses Thomas Paine as a radical revolutionary. His best-selling pamphlet Common Sense (skewered on the scroll he is holding as “Common Nonsense”), helped fuel the fight for revolution.