On January 1776 a short, but powerful book was published. It expressed the ideas that most colonists had. This book was publishes with the name of "Common Snese" written by Thomas Paine. Paine was a recent immigrant from Britain that used to be a tax collector and artesant. This book was written with a simple, but forceful and direct language and its three main proposals were:
1) Independence from Britain.
2) A Republican state government.
3) Union of the new states.
Paine also denounced the king as a tyrant and the aristocrats as parasites and a fraud. He believed that the common people should be able of choosing the whole goverment. He was sure that America would be able to trade with other countries once free from the empire. He argued that a republic would reward merit, not inherited privileges. He concluded that no one wants their liberty taken away.
This book in the most sold and circulated book in American History. It was very popular because, aside from the fact that it expressed the ideas of most colonists, it was written in a from that was very easy to read for the common people. Besides that, Paine believed that it was absurd for an island to rule a continent.
Many ideas of this book actually appeared in the Declaration of Independence.
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