After the phenomenal success of Common Sense in aligning popular American opinion with the cause of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine became the unofficial propagandist of the new nation. He had been born in Britain but moved to the American colonies in November 1774. Paine was an early and ardent supporter of independence for the colonies. He spent the campaigning season of 1776 with George Washington’s army in New York and New Jersey, writing articles meant to prop up public support for the rebellion despite the series of unmitigated military disasters Washington suffered that year. The British had captured the city of New York, the economic center of the colonies, and went on to take Fort Washington and Fort Lee from the Americans. A growing number of colonists questioned the wisdom of continuing to fight the British and instead began to call for a negotiated peace with King George III.