{"id":82475,"date":"2022-01-13T14:00:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T19:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=82475"},"modified":"2022-01-14T10:55:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T15:55:09","slug":"thomas-paines-common-sense-new-years-resolution-for-america-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/thomas-paines-common-sense-new-years-resolution-for-america-part-i.html","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Paine\u2019s \u2018Common Sense\u2019 New Year\u2019s Resolution for America, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Jane Hampton Cook describes the publishing of \u201cCommon Sense,\u201d Thomas Paine\u2019s incredibly popular pamphlet that helped persuade Americans to support the American Revolution. Jane is a presidential historian and author of ten books, including Stories of Faith and Courage from the Revolutionary War<\/a>. Her works can be found at Janecook.com<\/a>. She is also the host of Red, White, Blue and You<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The editor of the Pennsylvania Evening Post<\/em> was discouraged as the New Year began in 1776. After all, the world had gone mad in 1775 when the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: portrait of Thomas Paine, by Matthew Pratt, c. 1790. Credit: Lafayette College Art Collection; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In response to the madness, the editor published a poem on 1 January 1776 under this theme:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, alas! Poor Tom\u2019s a-cold.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/a>
Pennsylvania Evening Post (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 1 January 1776, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPoor Tom\u2019s a-cold\u201d refers to Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear<\/em>, in which a character disguised himself as Tom O\u2019Bedlam to symbolize madness \u2013 a storm indicating chaos in the social world.<\/p>\n

In spite of his world gone mad, the editor\u2019s New Year\u2019s Day poem concluded with hope for good news in 1776:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, alas! Poor Tom\u2019s a-cold<\/em>:
\nBut you, who live with Hearts at Ease,
\nWill surely never let him freeze.
\nSweet Madam, Gentle Sir, Good morrow;
\nGod keep you free from Pain and Sorrow,
\nAnd let me hope, ere long, to boast
\nGood news!<\/em> —- Good news!<\/em> —- in the Evening Post.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This editor didn\u2019t let Tom freeze \u2013 and his paper was soon to publish \u201cgood news.\u201d In fact, he promoted an anonymous work by a real-life Tom.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Evening Post<\/em> announced \u201cCommon Sense, addressed to the inhabitants of America, on the following interesting subjects\u201d on 13 January 1776, four days after it was first printed by local publisher Robert Bell. It was published anonymously \u2013 Thomas Paine originally didn\u2019t want his name on the radical, 47-page pamphlet that became wildly popular and helped turn American attitudes toward Great Britain from reconciliation to rebellion.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Pennsylvania Evening Post (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 13 January 1776, page 26<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Common Sense<\/em> addressed the origin of government, the English Constitution, monarchy, hereditary succession, and the present state of America. In an appendix to Common Sense<\/em>, Thomas Paine wrote what could be the boldest New Year\u2019s resolution for America ever uttered:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have it in our power to begin the world over again.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
New England Chronicle, or Essex Gazette (Cambridge, Massachusetts), 21 March 1776, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His Common Sense<\/em> was so popular that soon the New-York Gazette, and Weekly Mercury<\/em> announced that a publisher in New York was also printing and selling it.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
New-York Gazette, and Weekly Mercury (New York, New York), 22 January 1776, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For safety reasons, Thomas Paine\u2019s name as the author was kept out of the press for years. Paine had recently come to America from England. The Pennsylvania Evening Press<\/em> gave an update on January 25 on the (still anonymous) pamphlet\u2019s astonishing popularity, reporting:<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral hundreds are already bespoke, one thousand for Virginia. A German edition is likewise in the press.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
Pennsylvania Evening Press (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 25 January 1776, page 43<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In tomorrow\u2019s concluding Part II of this article, we\u2019ll see how readers reacted to Common Sense<\/em>, and how it played such an important role in spurring the Colonies to embrace revolution.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors \u2013 the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jane Hampton Cook describes the effect of \u201cCommon Sense,\u201d Thomas Paine\u2019s incredibly popular pamphlet that rallied support for the American Revolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":82499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12235],"tags":[1902,58089,5839],"class_list":["post-82475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-american-revolutionary-war","tag-common-sense","tag-thomas-paine"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/illustration-0113-2022-featured-graphic-thomas-paine.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82475"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82497,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82475\/revisions\/82497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}