Lesson 6: Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"

     In 1776, During a time of tension between England and the American Colonies, Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlet called "Common Sense".  In this pamphlet he directly attacked King George III, by stating that he was the cause of hostility between England and the Colonies, going so far as to say that he was "unworthy of the Americans' respect."  Paine also believed that an island ruling a continent was unnatural.  He encouraged America, through his writing, to become its own independent country and after only a few months, the pamphlet had 150,000 copies throughout the colonies.