Common Sense Shirts, Hats & Gifts

The story behind the design

The Common Sense Design

In January 1776 Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense convinced a continent to declare independence. Our Premium design is an homage to its title page: “COMMON SENSE” in an eighteenth-century face under “A Revolution of,” Paine’s own subtitle “Addressed to the Inhabitants of America,” printer’s ornaments and rules, and “Philadelphia · MDCCLXXVI.” It belongs on the study wall, the journal and the whiskey glass.

The artwork. A homage to the title page of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the pamphlet that talked a continent into independence: “COMMON SENSE” in Caslon, the typeface of 1776, over a cut of the Revolution’s thirteen-star flag between printer’s flowers, with Paine’s own “Addressed to the Inhabitants of AMERICA” and the Philadelphia imprint of MDCCLXXVI. Set in Old Glory blue with red accents, like a two-color letterpress page.

After the title page of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (Philadelphia, 1776), public domain.