Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense (1775), urging the colonies to declare their independence, found 150,000 purchasers in a population of less than 3 million — the equivalent today of a sale of 14 million.
Senator
Son of John and Abigail Adams, diplomat, senator, sixth President, congressman; 1767—1848.
Virginia revolutionary, signer of the Declaration of Independence, senator; 1732—94.
Soldier, lawyer, Virginia governor, diplomat, Secretary of State, Secretary of War, fifth President; 1758—1831.
Soldier, delegate to the Constitutional Convention, congressman, South Carolina governor, senator; 1757—1824.
Lawyer and politician from Connecticut; signer of the Declaration of Independence; 1721—93.
Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution (2003)