Whereas literature in the first half of the eighteenth century in America had been largely
religious and moral in tone, by the latter half of the century the revolutionary fervor that was coming
to life in the colonies began to be reflected in the literature of the time, which in turn served to further
influence the population. Although not all writers of this period supported the Revolution, the two
best-known and most influential writers, Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine, were both strongly
supportive of that cause.
Ben Franklin first attained popular success through his writings in his brother's newspaper, the
New England Current. In these articles he used a simple style of language and common sense
argumentation to defend the point of view of the farmer and the Leather Apron man. He continued
with the same common sense practicality and appeal to the common man with his work on Poor
Richard's Almanac from 1733 until 1758. Firmly established in his popular acceptance by the people,
Franklin wrote a variety of extremely effective articles and pamphlets about the colonists'
revolutionary cause against England.
Thomas Paine was an Englishman working as a magazine editor in Philadelphia at the time of
the Revolution. His pamphlet Common Sense, which appeared in 1776, was a force in encouraging
the colonists to declare their independence from England. Then throughout the long and desperate
war years he published a series of Crisis papers (from 1776 until 1783) to encourage the colonists to
continue on with the struggle. The effectiveness of his writing was probably due to his emotional yet
oversimplified depiction of the cause of the colonists against England as a classic struggle of good
and evil.
