Literature of the Americas

2541-7894 2542-243X

IWL RAS

https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2026-20-274-295

Review Article

Articles

Pamphlets and the Public Sphere in the American Revolution: The Case of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

2026

This article examines Thomas Paine’s seminal pamphlet, Common Sense (1776), as a defining text of political communication during the American Revolution. It analyzes the broader role of eighteenth-century pamphleteering in shaping a vibrant public sphere and disseminating revolutionary ideas throughout the North American colonies. Far from serving merely as tools of political propaganda, these pamphlets offered a vital space for forging new models of political thought, rooted in the principles of popular sovereignty, natural rights, and republican governance. The study explores the pamphlet’s distinctive style, deliberately crafted to resonate with a wide audience, and the rhetorical and discursive strategies Paine employed. These strategies allowed him to frame the separation from Great Britain not as a radical leap, but as a logically self-evident and politically imperative step. Methodologically, the research adopts a discursive approach informed by the theoretical framework of hegemony and “empty signifiers” developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. This analytical lens positions Common Sense as a powerful act of political signification, actively working to construct a new symbolic order. Paine’s text strategically redefines the key categories of the revolutionary era, that is, “the people,” “liberty,” and “law.” The article demonstrates how these concepts function as “empty signifiers,” capable of uniting disparate social and political grievances into a cohesive discursive front, all directed toward legitimizing the independence of the colonies. Finally, by comparing the rhetoric of Common Sense with that of the Declaration of Independence, the article traces the transformation of revolutionary discourse. It shows how Paine’s passionate, mobilizing language evolved into the formal, institutional, and legal language of nation-building, marking the journey from revolutionary call to political foundation.

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