Gazette of the United States
Unmasking the Hidden Authors and the Mysterious Deaths of the Early Republic
From Ghostwriter to Ghost Rider: The 1776 Republicus Mission to Save the Republic
Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and Madison built our foundation - but if not for Thomas Paine’s "Republicus" Mission, the United States of America would not exist.
By Michael Chamberlin and Patricia Blum
June 29, 2026 at 6:20:32 PM
While the participation of other Founding Fathers, like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Hancock, was also critically important to the cause, it was the Republicus letter of June 29, 1776, that sparked the Second Continental Congress to pass the Declaration of Independence.
Partisan historians have convinced the masses for more than two centuries that the Dunlap broadsides were the first time that those titles were printed for public consumption. They are wrong.
The true origin was scrubbed by 1776's original gatekeepers—powerful politicians managing a war and cautious printers balancing lucrative government contracts.
The formal names, the Declaration of Independence, and the United States of America, were first used in public print, on June 29, 1776, in Benjamin Towne’s Pennsylvania Evening Post. See the introductory paragraph of the "For the PENNSYLVANIA EVENING POST" letter, in the banner above.
As you can see from that banner, we believe that Thomas Paine wrote that letter, signing it with the clever, Greek sounding name "REPUBLICUS." Chronicling America, the Library of Congress website dedicated to digitizing the historic newspapers published here in the United States of America, just happens to have that issue, of the Pennsylvania Evening Post in its collection.
That means that the image is in the public domain, and that you don't have to get past a paywall to view it. You can see the full page image on this Library of Congress, Chronicling America page. Below is an image clip of the letter, and a transcription follows.
The Gazette of the United States: Unveiling Anonymous Authors and Mysterious Deaths During the Founding of the United States of America
For the PENNSYLVANIA EVENING POST.
Every moment that I reflect on our affairs, the more am I convinced of the necessity of a formal Declaration of Independence. Reconciliation is thought of now by none but knaves, fools, and madmen; and as we cannot offer terms of peace to Great Britain until, as other nations have done before us, we agree to call ourselves by some name, I shall rejoice to hear the title of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in order that we may be on a proper footing to negociate a peace.
Besides, the condition of those brave fellows who have fallen into the enemy's hands as prisoners, and the risk which every man runs who bears arms either by land or sea, in the American cause, makes a declaration of independence absolutely necessary, because no proper cartel for an exchange of prisoners can take place while we remain dependants. It is some degree of comfort to a man taken prisoner that he belongs to some national power — is the subject of some State that will see after him. Oliver Cromwell would have sent a memorial as powerful as thunder to any King on earth who dared to have used prisoners in the manner which ours have been. What is it that we have done in this matter? Nothing. We were subjects of Great-Britain, and must not do these things. Shame on your cowardly souls that do them not! You are not fit to govern.
Were Britain to make a conquest of America, I would, for my own part, choose rather to be conquered as an independent State than as an acknowledged rebel. Some foreign powers might interpose for us in the first case, but they cannot in the latter, because the law of all nations is against us. Besides, the foreign European powers will not be long neutral, and unless we declare an independence and send embassies to seek their friendship, Britain will be beforehand with us; for the moment she finds that she cannot make a conquest of America by her own strength, she will endeavour to make an European affair of it. Upon the whole, we may be benefited by independence, but we cannot be hurt by it, and every man that is against it is a traitor.
REPUBLICUS.
Fortunately, not all the Gatekeepers of history are dishonest. Finally, just this year, 2026, Editor Gregory Clayes, working with the Princeton University Press, is releasing the newly expanded "Thomas Paine: Collected Writings: Vol. I – VI." In the Index of Vol. VI, on page 701: “ ‘Republicus,’ as, 6:302-4.”
Is the timing of this new revelation not fascinating? Right before the nation's 250th anniversary, Thomas Paine finally gets official credit for this historic letter.
Many Christians historically despised Paine for publishing The Age of Reason, widely condemned as a deeply blasphemous critique of organized religion. For Paine to now receive credit for coining our national title—the "United States of America"—will certainly be a tough pill for his religious detractors to swallow.
Paine’s “Declaration of Independence” did not become the official title of our nation, until November 15, 1777, when Congress passed the Articles of Confederation. Jefferson didn't compose the name of that document; Paine did.
But proving that Paine was its author is not our mission here, now that the Republicus letter has been added to the Thomas Paine Collected Writings collection.
Our mission, here at the Gazette, is to demonstrate to the world, what an amazing feat Thomas Paine pulled off over the next 14 days. It straight up, won the war.
Working for the Committee of Secrets, in conjunction with the John Adams led “Board of War,” Paine left Philadelphia on a secret mission, to deliver secret messages. First, a message from Hancock to Washington, that passage of the Declaration was imminent. Second, to return the news of the situation in New York, and deliver the new orders from General Washington, back to Hancock.
What Paine did on that trip, just before he returned to Philadelphia, to join the “Pennsylvania Associators,” - the state’s militia division, often referred to as the Pennsylvania Flying Camp - will blow your mind. He single handedly saved the, soon to be known as, "United States of America."
[The Republicus Mission Series To Be Continued.]
