History As It Happens America250! Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
Subscribe now to enjoy ad-free listening and bonus content. Keep the narrative flow going in 2026!
This is the first in an occasional series of episodes (one or two per month) marking the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
In January 1776, a pamphlet printed in Philadelphia became an instant sensation. Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" was a provocative attack on the British constitution and hereditary monarchy, and a call for American colonists to seek independence. In this episode, historian Lindsay Chervinsky, the executive director of Mount Vernon's George Washington Presidential Library, takes us back to the ideas and arguments that made a revolution.
Recommended reading:
To Make the World Again by Lindsay Chervinsky (Imperfect Union on Substack)
Common Sense (contextus.org)