Civics In A Year
What do you really know about American government, the Constitution, and your rights as a citizen?
Civics in a Year is a fast-paced podcast series that delivers essential civic knowledge in just 10 minutes per episode. Over the course of a year, we’ll explore 250 key questions—from the founding documents and branches of government to civil liberties, elections, and public participation.
Rooted in the Civic Literacy Curriculum from the Center for American Civics at Arizona State University, this series is a collaborative project supported by the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. Each episode is designed to spark curiosity, strengthen constitutional understanding, and encourage active citizenship.
Whether you're a student, educator, or lifelong learner, Civics in a Year will guide you through the building blocks of American democracy—one question at a time.
Civics In A Year
These Are the Times: Thomas Paine and the Power of Common Sense
Dr. Aaron Zubia explains how Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" revolutionized colonial thinking in 1776 by presenting independence as the logical solution for America. This radical pamphlet sold 100,000 copies and helped catalyze support for the Declaration of Independence through accessible, powerful language that spoke directly to ordinary citizens.
• Thomas Paine came from England to America to escape debtor's prison and met Benjamin Franklin who set him up at a Philadelphia printing shop
• Published in January 1776, "Common Sense" argued it was illogical for an island nation to rule a continent across an ocean
• Paine used biblical references to argue against monarchy, citing passages where God warned against human kings
• Despite not being an orthodox Christian himself, Paine effectively used scriptural language to connect with religious colonists
• His "American Crisis" pamphlets, especially the first with "These are the times that try men's souls," inspired Washington's troops
• Paine's radical democratic views sometimes conflicted with other founders' more conservative positions
• Later works like "Rights of Man" and "Age of Reason" criticized orthodox Christianity and supported the French Revolution, diminishing his popularity
• The 18th-century public sphere centered around pamphlets read in coffeehouses and theaters, similar to today's social media but more communal
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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership
Welcome back everyone. I am very excited to welcome a new scholar with us today. With us is Dr Aaron Zubia. He is an assistant professor of humanities at the Hamilton School for Classic and Civic Education at the University of Florida. So our friends on the other side of the country, dr Zubia, we are so excited to have you and we get to talk about Thomas Paine and Common Sense. So our question is what is Common Sense by Thomas Paine and why does it matter?
Speaker 2:Thank you, liz. It's great to be here and that is a great question. Thomas Paine's Common Sense was published in January 1776, an important year we know. That is the year that the Declaration of Independence was written, published and celebrated in the United States. And Tom Paine, who had grown up in the UK, had grown up in England. He had come over to the US to escape debtor's prison. He had had a variety of jobs, including school teacher. When he was in England he met Benjamin Franklin and so when he came over to the United States he met up with Franklin. Franklin set him up at a printing shop in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2:Thomas Paine soon became the editor of Pennsylvania Magazine and he did not have a privileged upbringing. He came from a common background and he had a way with words. He could write to the common man. So he came from a common background, could write to the common man and he wrote what he thought was common sense. So in January 1776, he wrote Common Sense. It sold 100,000 copies, which was a lot of copies for that day and age, and he was saying it is common sense for us not to seek reconciliation with Great Britain and to seek instead independence. So he said it's common sense that the colonies in America, on this continent, should not be ruled by an island. Ruled by an island, he said, practically the distance between the two. It doesn't make sense. You look at the American colonies. They have grown up. It is now time for the Americans to rule themselves. And so he presented this as common sense. Now it's interesting, thomas Paine he wrote for the common man and he wrote about common sense.
Speaker 2:But he did not necessarily share the ideas of the common man. For instance, he was really a child of the Enlightenment, critical of Orthodox Christianity. He was more of a deist. He was very critical of hierarchies, of the nobility of titles, but this contributed to his argument that custom, tradition, these don't have legitimacy, authority on the American continent. It is time to think about what is necessary now for a new people to govern themselves through representatives, to govern themselves in a democratic way, without a monarch, without aristocrats, without nobility, without any inherited titles. So Paine was operating on the idea of natural equality and since nobody is born with any right to rule over another, we should be able to rule ourselves democratically.
Speaker 2:And although Thomas Paine was not an Orthodox Christian, he used the language of Scripture. He also argued that it was common sense for us not to have a monarchy. Because in scripture, particularly in books like Judges, in the Hebrew scriptures, 1 Samuel, god says you shouldn't have a king. I'm your king, I'm your only king. I should. You know, for the people of Israel, god is in charge. Yet the people they wanted, in the case of Gideon, to make him king. They wanted. They ultimately chose. You know, saul was anointed king, but the Israelites said we want a king. And in Scripture, the prophet Samuel says I'm warning you, it's a bad idea. It's a bad idea.
Speaker 2:And Tom Paine looks at these Scriptures and says the Hebrew people, they were a republic and when they became a monarchy they were corrupted. And so he's looking, he's using the arguments of Scripture, he's using arguments from equality and he is a radical Democrat. And this sat a little bit uncomfortably with some of the founders. For example, george Washington was no radical. Tom Paine was a radical, radical Democrat.
Speaker 2:Yet Paine had a way of generating support for the cause of revolution and he joined the Continental Army and he wrote a series of 16 pamphlets called Crisis, the first of those with the famous opening these are the Times that Try Men's Souls. I really struck a chord with Washington, and he read this first pamphlet to the army in 1776, I think it's 1776, before he crossed the Delaware, before the surprise attack on the British in Trenton. George Washington wrote he read Thomas Paine's words to the troops and inspired them. And so Paine was very useful at this time and at this revolutionary moment. Later on he'd write the Rights of man and the Age of Reason. These were books that spoke highly about reason and science and enlightenment values, and it criticized priestcraft and orthodox elements of Christianity.
Speaker 2:But by this time, paine, into the 1790s, he had become a supporter of the French Revolution, he had been in prison during the Terror and he blamed George Washington for not freeing him from prison, and by this time his reputation had really declined. So when you see Tom Paine, the voice of a radical Democrat, highly useful for generating interest and support for the revolutionary cause, later on he became a divisive figure, a polarizing figure, one who didn't have much sway after that revolutionary moment, but in 1776, a voice that hadn't been heard before, with fiery, passionate rhetoric, perfect for the time, fit for the time to spur on the cause of revolution and to support the signing, the writing and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And so, when you think about common sense in 1776 and Tom Paine's message to the Americans, it is this it's time to grow up, it's time to rule yourself, it's time to institute new forms for a new age and to not rely on the kingship and the nobility of Great Britain yes, a mighty empire, but only an island, and a distant one at that.
Speaker 1:I'm going to ask a question on the American crisis because I know that a lot of students read this in school and you know it's not like today where where, like you know, thomas Paine would make a TikTok video or something to like get people going. Why was writing pamphlets like the American Crisis so important to swaying people like of opinions?
Speaker 2:Great question In the Enlightenment era, the 18th century, in England and in France the public sphere is forming essays and pamphlets. They are read in coffee shops, gardens, theaters. So it's not like the coffee shop today where you see, you know, a bunch of people on their laptop hey, I do that too. Great place to write. But there are pamphlets available, they're being read out loud, they're being talked about, they're generating conversation. So this, I mean it really is similar to the function that TikTok forms today, except it's not an isolated experience where you just look at your screen and you're being spoken to directly, but it is the way to communicate to the people. It's a shorter form, the polite essay written for those who are literate, men and women in fashionable society who are discussing these ideas. They're increasingly interested in contemporary affairs. So he is using the means available to him to spread the word about the American revolutionary effort, about the need for independence, and so it is interesting to think about. You know the means available to you, and that was a more elevated means, I'd argue, than the means at our disposal today.
Speaker 2:But people were reading this, as is evidenced by 100,000 copies being sold very early on. For Thomas Paine's Common Sense, I think of really prominent books of political theory that have been written recently. I mean, I think, the most influential book you know in political theory over the last 10 years, Patrick Deneen's why Liberalism Failed. Last year he said I've sold 60,000 copies. That's good and you think about that's today, 2025, you know 60,000 copies and this is 1776, 100,000 copies. People were reading this and acting on it.
Speaker 1:And it's interesting too that you said you know Thomas Paine was really, really important, but for a really short time. But it just goes to show that you know we will later talk about George Washington, like there's all these figures that we know were really important and really kind of in the political sphere for a while. But Thomas Paine, even though he wasn't there for a while, was still important and still had an effect on the American Revolution and how people saw it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think that's part of his character. If you're thinking of the character of Thomas Paine, I mean he was sort of a he was rowdy, a kind of rabble rouser. He was, you know, reputed to be a drunkard, you know he was. He was very passionate, perhaps a little impetuous, but that's a useful skill in his case to fire people up. And so it was. You know his moment, you know his biggest moment. He wrote in future thing. You know, he wrote papers in the future, he wrote books in the future and those are still read today. Those still had an influence. So I don't want to minimize those later works, but they didn't have the effect of common sense. I don't want to minimize those later works but they didn't have the effect of common sense. I mean it was. He was like a flash of lightning, you know. I mean perfect time, perfect place, and in some ways his faults, his character flaws, you know, contributed to his being able to write in the way that he did, to galvanize people.
Speaker 1:Wonderful, Dr Zubia. Thank you so much. I feel like I say this every episode, but it's so true. I mean, I was a teacher for 17 years. We read these documents, we learned, but I have learned more from you in the brief time that we've talked than I have learned in a very long time. So thank you so much for your time and your expertise.
Speaker 2:It was a lot of fun. Thank you for having.
