ABSTRACT
Although Thomas Paine was not the first advocate of American independence and his argument was not the most original presented in the long struggle between England and the colonies. That the pamphlet was an immediate best-seller is evidence of its popularity. Paine reported that 120,000 copies were sold in three months, and later estimates reach half a million. It can be postulated that a major source of the influence of Common Sense lies in the commonality of the ideas which Paine expresses, ideas which had been articulated previously by a number of people in various media during the decade or so prior to 1776. The relationship between style and identification underlying this study is based upon the work of the twentieth-century American philosopher and rhetorician Kenneth Burke. American political writing generally failed to achieve the plain style, a style identified by scientists, ministers, and literary artists as an ideal for which to strive.
