Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense summed up the feelings of many Americans about Britain. In it, Paine urged open revolt against the “Royal Brute of England.” Within months, 100,000 copies of Common Sense had been sold in the colonies, which had a population of two and a half million – many of them illiterate.
“Thomas Paine has the audacity to speak about the necessity and possibility of Independence
and stupidity and lack of legitimacy of Monarchy.”