In that clear-eyed and disinterested band of men who conceived and cradled our Republic, Paine stands a giant even among giants.
Many persons believe that it was he who actually composed and wrote the Declaration of Independence; it is certain that he is more than half responsible for it.

The very soul and fibre and living spirit of the United States was the soul and fibre and living spirit of Thomas Paine, and, in the highest American standards and traditions, remains the same today.
In 1775 he wrote "Common Sense"-- the book which was, as one historian declares, the "clarion call for separation from England," and which swept the country.

Edmund Randolph drily ascribes American independence first to George III and second to Paine.

Five hundred thousand copies of the pamphlet were sold, and he might easily have grown rich on the proceeds, but he could never find it in his conscience to make money out of patriotism, and he gave every cent to the war fund.
This splendid fire-eating Quaker--is there anything stauncher than a fighting Quaker ?--proceeded to enlist in the Pennsylvania division of the Flying Camp under General Roberdeau; then he went as aide-de-camp to General Greene.

It was in 1776 that he started his "Crisis," a series of stirring and patriotic addresses in pamphlet form.