Without the American Crisis papers it is entirely possible if not probable that the new American government would not have been a representative democracy. Common Sense inspired the common folk to rise up and fight against the most powerful military force in the world. The Crisis papers followed the revolution from beginning to end and continually fed motivated people to endure the hardships of the war. So critical were his papers to the cause of freedom and democracy in America that it is possible the war would have been lost without him. He is the common man among our founders and the most faithful to American ideals.