Launchpad Republic

4Upstart Nation

Even for John Adams, who had come to Philadelphia to push for independence, the pamphlet went too far. Later calling it a “crapulous mass,” Adams was so exercised by Thomas Paine's Common Sense, appearing in January 1776, that he published a counterargument a few months later. But Paine's simply written piece was a stunning success, selling over 100,000 copies in a few months and eventually topping half a million.¹

Paine's argument for radical democracy, including waiving the requirement of property ownership in order to vote, and providing a simple unicameral legislature (a cause for upheaval in the Netherlands at the time), pointed to the tensions beneath the widespread complaint against the British empire. Some delegates to the Continental Congress were still loyal to the Crown, and their favored political and economic position would be threatened by any change. At the other extreme were people like Paine and Adam's cousin Samuel, who sought fundamental political, social, and economic upheaval.

Most, however, were ambivalent or at least conservative in framing what might come after. Many merchants and landowners hesitated to declare full independence at first, and came around only later as events unfolded. As successful colonial incumbents, they were eager to maintain their position in the world that followed, so they were a ready counter against Paine and others who asserted rights against the mother country. Adams and others in the middle worked to manage ...