Colonists Seek "Common Sense"

A political pamphlet helps spark a revolution. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dissolve the political bans. We'll discuss as we took a
bite out of history with Ingles Markets. In seventeen seventy three,
the British Parliament passed the Tea Act. It was passed
to save the East India Company and granted them a
monopoly on the American tea trade, which would drive up
prices on the colonists. This was a major catalyst for
the American colonists to begin questioning their British rule. Next
was the Stamp Act in seventeen sixty five to pay

(00:20):
for the British Army. In January of seventeen seventy six,
a political philosopher named Thomas Paine were a pamphlet titled
Common Sense that argued for American independence from Britain. It
spread across the colonies like fire, selling more than five
hundred thousand copies in just a few months. Common Sense
convinced many of the colonists that it was time for
their freedom from Britain, and in the spring of seventeen
seventy six Continental Congress began forming their own government with states,

(00:43):
and they also appointed a five man committee to draft
a declaration. That declaration was eventually finished and adopted by
the Continental Congress on July fourth, seventeen seventy six in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It was titled the Declaration of Independence. This has been
a bite out of history with ingles markets