Question

What is the most likely reason Thomas Paine published his American Crisis pamphlets under the name “Common Sense”?

Answer 1

The most likely reason Thomas Paine published his American Crisis pamphlets under the name “Common Sense” is because he wanted to show the colonists why it was so clear that the colonies should separate from Britain--making a clear case that even the "common" relatively uneducated people could understand.

Answer 2

The most likely reason Thomas Paine published his American Crisis pamphlets under the name “Common Sense” was because he wanted to highlight how obvious and logical independence seemed to him. Paine believed that the only logical way for the colonies to act was to seek independence from Great Britain.

Paine also wanted to show, through this name, that the case he was making was not a complex one. He was not talking to scholars in educated and complicated terms. Instead, he was making a clear and straightforward claim that anyone with some common sense would be able to understand.