SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
A government of our own is our natural right. This was the heart of Thomas Paine's argument in "Common Sense," which was published 250 years ago today. That statement might sound exactly like common sense to us now, but at the time, it was a pretty radical idea. As battles were breaking out between the British and the American colonists, Paine made an impassioned case to separate from Britain and declare independence. Seven months later, on July 4, 1776, that is exactly what happened, of course.
To help us understand Paine's enduring influence, we're joined now by Nora Slonimsky, director of the Thomas Paine Institute at Iona University. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
NORA SLONIMSKY: Hi, Sarah. Thanks so much for having me.
MCCAMMON: OK, for those of us who may not have read "Common Sense" for a very long time, maybe back in high school or college, can you just remind us, what were some of Thomas Paine's core arguments for independence?
SLONIMSKY: Sure. So "Common Sense" really moves the needle in the lead-up to independence, and it's got a pretty direct and straightforward premise, and that is to declare independence. And it's really driven by the belief that monarchy is not a system of government that people should live under. He's very clearly stating that a republic is the best thing for the people of North America, and he makes his argument very, very clearly throughout the text that monarchy bad, republic good.
MCCAMMON: A lot of these ideas around the American Revolution - ideas of independence, equality, liberty, democracy - those are sort of baked into the way Americans think about themselves today. But, I mean, that wasn't the case at the time, right? I mean, how would people at the time of the publication of "Common Sense" have thought about this idea of American independence from Britain?
SLONIMSKY: So certainly, you have communities and groups of people in the late 18th century in North America, particularly and specifically in colonial North America, who identify with what we now call the patriot cause, right? They're increasingly concerned, suspicious, disappointed with being part of the British Empire, and then you have other groups who are deeply committed to the British Empire as an institution and also essentially as, like, a culture and a cause that they really believe in. And then you have a whole broadly, let's say, third kind of group or groups of people who don't really have strong feelings one way or the other.
And what Paine's able to do, which is pretty extraordinary, is he's able to view all those different disparate voices and perspectives as one. And he really does see the potential for a unified nation in these - amidst these different groups. Paine is deeply, deeply opposed to hereditary power - right? - to monarchy, to autocracy, right? And he is able to communicate that really effectively to all these different groups to that position.
MCCAMMON: I just want to talk a little bit about the logistics of how he got his ideas out into the general public. How widely was "Common Sense" distributed? And what was it? I mean, we're talking about a pamphlet here, but what did that mean at this time?
SLONIMSKY: The best way I think you can explain how "Common Sense" gets out there into the world is Paine is not all that dissimilar from a social media influencer today. Pamphlets are short, relatively speaking, and his was particularly concise and readable. And the other really cool part of it is that in addition to that discussion that people would have having physically read the book, they're also talking about it in taverns or coffeehouses or, you know, around the 18th century version of the water cooler. And it's those verbal conversations about what's happening in "Common Sense" that really help to expand its reach as much as that print circulation.
MCCAMMON: You just compared the pamphlet "Common Sense," in a way, to something that goes viral on social media. You know, today we live in an oversaturated media landscape, and it's kind of hard to imagine a single piece of writing or content capturing the public attention in this way. I mean, do you think that there is any sort of modern-day parallel?
SLONIMSKY: I do think it's possible for someone like Paine to capture that kind of audience today. We think of our current moment as especially the incredible benefits and blessings that things like social media bring to our lives - right? - this incredible ability to connect across time and space and the communities that it can foster. We also have a lot of challenges that come from the - those wide-ranging reaches and those wide-ranging conversations.
But the question of echo chambers or silos or different communities listening to very specific sources for their information and not necessarily listening to other sources for their information - that's not really a new problem, and it's actually one that Paine himself was very, very aware of. And part of how he addressed that concern - and it's a valid one, right? - is by being very upfront and very transparent about his position.
He was a good-faith writer, and I think that's why multiple publics found him so persuasive. He was deeply informed, deeply knowledgeable. He was a true expert in his craft, and he communicated very clearly and accessibly, but also was advocating for this very specific agenda, which was to separate from Britain and to avoid, at all costs, the threat of monarchy. That is a position that he was taking. It's a persuasive one, and he was very clear about that angle.
And what I think really helps people connect is that transparency about where you're coming from, and I think that is why he was able to capture such an audience, and I think people today would respond to that and do respond to that in a similar fashion.
MCCAMMON: What do you see as the lasting impact of Thomas Paine and "Common Sense"?
SLONIMSKY: For me - and this is as a historian but also as someone who is actively participating in life in the United States in 2026 - where I see Paine speaking most clearly to our present-day experiences is the importance of how learning and knowledge and being an informed citizen is central to the sort of democratic experiment - right? - and how vital that is to sort of the civic life in the United States that we have and his deep appreciation for that civic life. I think that can look very different depending on your perspective and where you stand. But you see it across aspects of the political spectrum, across different positionalities, different communities, different backgrounds, that that value really holds firm, and I think it can get sort of maybe lost in the noise sometimes, but it's very much there.
MCCAMMON: That's history professor Nora Slonimsky, director of the Thomas Paine Institute at Iona University. Thank you so much.
SLONIMSKY: Thank you so much, Sarah. It was a pleasure to talk with you.
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