On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine published a pamphlet entitled Common Sense which was a major success and in which he criticized the monarchy. Thomas Paine called for America to separate from Britain and proposed a Republican Constitution. In a letter published by the Pennsylvania Packet on April 22, 1776, he showed Americans all the advantages of being independent. Independence would bring happiness to Americans because “it is a blank sheet to fill. ". Americans were for him a free and virtuous people who could free themselves from the past. The idea of independence became the way to access a life based on virtue, the supreme ideal of many patriots.
Between 1776 and 1780, American states adopted written constitutions based on faith in public virtues. Basic institutions were seen as desirable and sufficient. The texts provided for two assemblies and annual elections:the democratic principle was adopted everywhere by property-based suffrage (except in Vermont where white male suffrage was established from the start). The constitution of Virginia (June 1776) affirmed human rights, several of which were taken up in the American Declaration of Independence:it was the first time in history that a constitutional text set forth universal and inalienable rights79. The constitution of Pennsylvania (September 1776) established conscientious objection and religious tolerance. The constitutions of five out of thirteen states mentioned the need for public education.
In Philadelphia, after much debate, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776:this text, the principal author of which was Thomas Jefferson, represented the “inaugural act of the American nation. Its preamble, inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment, proclaimed the right to freedom, life and happiness for the colonists.