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The thirty-seven-year-old corset maker was no stranger to tyranny. He had seen the brutality of a savage English criminal code that would hang a ten-year-old boy for stealing a pen knife or killing a rabbit.

Thomas Paine arrived in Philadelphia at the very time people living in the thirteen colonies, separated by a thousand miles of geography, starkly different religious views, dissimilar economic interests, and speaking different languages, were wondering if attempting to separate from the most powerful empire on earth was the right thing to do.

What was it that convinced enough ordinary men and women that a monarchy was a poor form of government and the foolishness of a small island, an ocean away, ruling a continent?

The firebrand corset maker dipped his quill in ink, and on January 10^th, 1776, published "Common Sense."  500,000 copies were printed in the first year—one for every five Americans.

He was a magician with words.

“The Time has found us!….We have it in our power to begin the world again!” Not since the time of Noah, he suggested, has there been such a possibility.

"Common Sense" was the spark. The conflagration came 176 days later when the world first heard words historian Samuel Eliot Morison described as “more explosive than the atom.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”

And soon the lyrics of the satirical song written by Benjamin Franklin were heard in the streets: "We have an old mother that peevish has grown. She treats us like children that scarce walk alone. She forgets we’ve grown up and have sense of our own."

The breaking point did not come spontaneously.  It was not born in a single summer. It had percolated in the minds of The Founding Fathers for years as they assiduously studied the writings of Sir William Blackwell, John Locke—both advocates for natural rights, religious freedom, and the consent of the governed— and Montesquieu, the French philosopher whose ideas of constitutionalism and the separation of powers shaped their thinking.

The phrase, “taxation without representation is tyranny,” coined by the American writer James Otis, rang in their ears, and served as a warning about what happens when citizens stop paying attention.

That long view helped them understand their own moment. They saw themselves as part of a much older human struggle to balance power and freedom. The conviction that citizens have a duty and a right to resist tyranny was not new. It came from years of reading, thinking, and wrestling with the past. They understood self-government because they had practiced governing their local affairs for 150 years before King George dissolved the legislature of Massachusetts.

No, the Founders were not born knowing how to build a republic. It came to them as they read widely, argued respectfully, as they considered how to craft a constitution that would “begin the world again.”

They were not alone. In taverns and churches, over split rail fences, and stone walls, many of their fellow countrymen discussed and debated these very same ideas. Farmers read histories by candlelight. Colonial newspapers printed "Cato’s Letters"—his ardent defense of liberty, his conclusion that power corrupts and must be kept in check by an informed citizenry. They formed Committees of Correspondence. In frontier settlements, and coastal towns, in hamlets and townships people considered civic learning as a serious obligation years before Concord, where, in April of 1775, “…the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world.”

The question for us as we approach America 250, is simple: are we taking our responsibilities as seriously as those scattered subjects of a king who fought to call themselves Americans? This is our challenge. We know a republic cannot rely on the wisdom of past generations. It is required of each generation to understand why their rights matter and how easily they can be surrendered when civic engagement falters.

Consider Ronald Reagan’s oft-quoted reminder, "Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in our blood stream." The Founders assumed future generations would be as committed to individual freedoms, limited government, and the struggle to oppose tyranny as were they.

Today that assumption is under strain. We skim. We scroll. We consume information that flatters our biases instead of sharpening our judgment. We let algorithms tell us what to think instead of demanding better.

As we look toward the 250^th anniversary of our founding we should rekindle the intellectual fire of those who made this country possible. The Founders did not design a nation that could run on autopilot. They expected us to take the controls, think for ourselves, and to shoulder the work of keeping our republic strong. It is time for us to rise to that expectation.

Originally published in the Deseret News