托馬斯・潘恩，生於英格蘭諾福剋郡一個裁縫，上過幾年學，先後做過學徒、鞋匠、英語教師、收稅官，在富蘭剋林幫助下到達北美大陸，投身於爭取北美獨立事業，1776年以“一個英國人”名義發錶《常識》，成為瞭北美人民明確的戰鬥綱領，並隨後被吸收為《獨立宣言》的精華，並隨後被吸收為《獨立宣言》的精華，除瞭《常識》，潘恩還應邀參加起草瞭《人權宣言》，齣版過極具啓濛意義的《人的權利》、《土地正義論》、《理性時代》等著作，晚年迴到美國，潘恩一生都在跟獨夫民賊以及君主製等強大的“傳統”作戰，並終身宣揚激進的民主共和思想－－這些思想至今還閃耀著穿透曆史迷霧的耀眼的光芒。

In its time over 600,000 copies of Common Sense were circulated through the Colonies. Not one to be "politically correct" Thomas Paine's little book was key to starting a revolution we know today as the United States of America. Quotes from within these pages: "A long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT" "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind." "A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived." "The present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected, the whole continent will partake of the misfortune." "The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never happens to a nation but once . . . the time of forming itself into a government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors."