Published anonymously in 1776 the year of the American Declaration ofIndependence Paines <strong>Common Sense</strong> became an immediate bestseller with 56edi... » 

Published anonymously in 1776 the year of the American Declaration ofIndependence Paines Common Sense became an immediate bestseller with 56editions printed in that year alone. It was this pamphlet more than any otherfactor which helped to spark off the movement that established theindependence of the United States. From his experience of revolutionarypolitics Paine drew those principles of fundamental human rights which hefelt must stand no matter what excesses are committed to obtain them andwhich he later formulated in his Rights of Man. «