Who was the author of 'Common Sense', a pamphlet written at the beginning of American revolution ?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 1:
The author of the highly influential pamphlet *Common Sense* was Thomas Paine. Published anonymously in January 1776, this pamphlet was a crucial piece of political literature that profoundly shaped American public opinion just as the colonies were moving toward revolution. Paine’s argument was revolutionary because it moved beyond merely protesting British taxation and parliamentary abuses to explicitly advocating for American independence and establishing a republican form of government. The pamphlet’s plain language and powerful moral and political arguments made it accessible to the common person, selling hundreds of thousands of copies and providing the decisive intellectual momentum needed for the colonists to break with Great Britain.

The incorrect option is 2:
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, adopted six months after *Common Sense* was published, but he did not write the pamphlet. Jefferson was a Virginian statesman and lawyer who contributed profoundly to revolutionary philosophy, but his main contribution was the Declaration.

The incorrect option is 3:
Patrick Henry was a fiery orator from Virginia famous for his speech containing the line, "Give me liberty, or give me death\!" Although Henry was a passionate advocate for independence and a major revolutionary figure, he expressed his revolutionary ideals through speeches and political action, not through the authorship of *Common Sense*.

The incorrect option is 4:
John Adams was a lawyer, diplomat, and Massachusetts delegate who later became the second U.S. President. Adams was a staunch supporter of independence and a key political force in the Continental Congress, but he was not the author of *Common Sense*. In fact, Adams was sometimes critical of Paine's highly democratic political theories expressed in the pamphlet.