Dear Friend,
A 47-page pamphlet appeared on the streets of Philadelphia 250 years ago today. It was an instant best-seller, America’s first (though the author never earned a cent). By the end of the year, copies of Common Sense were circulating through the colonies and across the Atlantic. Thomas Paine’s words were read aloud in taverns and by General George Washington to his troops.
Even John Adams, a fierce critic of Paine, would eventually and begrudgingly concede: “I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on [the nation’s] inhabitants or affairs…”
The ideas Paine articulated in Common Sense were incendiary, but the plain and persuasive way he presented them made them feel, shall we say, self-evident. “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right,” he observed. And in just a sentence, he planted the seed of doubt that invited everyday people to reconsider the norms they’d long accepted without question.
At a time when most had only known monarchies, theocracies, and despots, Paine introduced to the world the very concept of democracy as a common good. He envisioned something brand-new and convinced the masses that independence was not only preferable and possible, but also a moral imperative and an inevitability.
In fact, history reveals our separation from British rule was never a certainty — not at any point during the preceding decade of rebellion or throughout eight years of bloody conflict. Many of Paine’s contemporaries, and historians since, have suggested the Revolution might not have succeeded at all without his pen. His arguments shifted public support from what could have been a quick and easy reconciliation with Britain and boosted morale throughout a far more demanding and gruesome war.
Paine’s rhetoric, radical as it was then, resonated across all strata of society and united a diverse and previously directionless populace around the simple idea that no one person or party is entitled to rule another. “In America,” he wrote, “the law is king,” rejecting the unimpugnable rule of tyrants, while laying the groundwork for a system of government accountable to the people.
Across the colonies, calls for revolution grew louder. Paine was not among the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, and the degree to which he directly contributed to its drafting is contested. But his influence on the nation’s founding is inarguable. Indeed, the very idea of such a declaration was proposed on the pages he printed only months earlier and a short walk from Independence Hall.
Paine’s legacy is a reminder that ordinary people, allowed to think critically and express themselves freely, can make extraordinary contributions. That ideas have impact. That rhetoric has consequences. The effects may be good, bad, or neutral, but they are not foreordained from on high. They are pursued by people here and now.
250 years after Common Sense, following a week of intensifying state violence and civil unrest, American Atheists continues to boldly and unwaveringly advance the cause of liberty. We’ve been called “un-American” for promoting the same ideals Paine championed: equality, liberty, reason, and democracy. If carrying forward the anti-authoritarian tradition of our freethinking founders is “radical,” we’ll wear that label with pride — though we happen to think it’s just common sense.
The authoritarian we face today is not a distant king but a domestic despot, who told the New York Times this week that he has no need for law and the only constraint to his authority is “my own morality, my own mind.” Paine emphatically warned about both a ruler like this (“‘there shall be no laws but such as I like’”) and the dangers of a religious nationalist regime (“[may] the example which ye have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.”)
He knew the work of opposing these threats would be trying. It wasn’t easy in 1776, and it isn’t in 2026. Your support is what allows us to carry on fighting to ensure the First Amendment isn’t relegated to a historical footnote. For that, our team thanks you.
Because democracy doesn’t defend itself, and while our rights may be self-evident, they are not self-sustaining. Without action, these are ideas on a page. They only truly exist and endure when folks like us are willing to stand up for them. American Atheists is doing just that. And I still think, as Paine did, that we have the power — and the imperative — to prevail.
In solidarity,
Melina Cohen
Director of Strategic Communications & Policy Engagement
PS: I hope to see you at one of our upcoming virtual events:
Religious Freedom in America
Thursday, January 15, 8:00 PM ET
New for 2026, don’t miss our first America: Beyond 250 event, featuring renowned historian Professor Steven K. Green in conversation with our own Legal Director Geoffrey Blackwell and President Nick Fish. Green is the Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of History at Willamette University and Director of the Center for Religion, Law and Democracy. He’s an expert on the separation of religion and government, a highly sought-after public speaker, and author of The Grand Collaboration: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Invention of American Religious Freedom (2024); Separating Church and State: A History (2022); Inventing a Christian America: The Myth of the Religious Founding (2015), and more. RSVP now!
The Times That Tried Men’s Souls:
Thomas Paine’s Service During the Revolutionary War
Thursday, January 29, 7:00 PM ET
American Atheists is proud to co-sponsor this Thomas Paine Memorial Association event in honor of Paine’s birthday. Acclaimed historian and author Jack Kelly, whose book Tom Paine’s War explores Paine’s firsthand experiences during the Revolution, will deliver a keynote address examining Paine’s military service and enduring relevance. Award-winning actor Ian Ruskin, known for his one-man show portraying Paine, will perform a dramatic reading. And so much more! Register here.
American Atheists is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan, nonprofit educational organization that relies on the support of members like you. Contributions are tax-deductible. Our Federal Tax ID Number is 74-2466507.
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