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29 pages 58 minutes read

Common Sense

Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1776

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Important Quotes

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“[…] a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.” 


(
Introduction
, Page 1)

The simple fact that Britain governed the American colonies for well over a century didn’t make it right and didn’t prove that it should continue. Those habits of thought faded as colonists found more to hate than to love about their overseas rulers. 

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“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.” 


(
Introduction
, Page 1)

Common Sense is a call to arms in defense of liberty and democracy. It helped to ignite a crusade that has continued to this day, as oppressed peoples worldwide follow the American example, transform or overthrow dictatorial governments, and establish democratic systems founded on civil liberties.

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“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices.” 


(
Chapter 1
, Page 3)

This is a foundational argument of Common Sense: that the only legitimate purpose of government is to protect a society from assault by those who would harm it for their own purposes. Government is otherwise a “necessary evil” that often gets out of hand. 

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