‘In July following the publication of Common Sense’, Paine informed a correspondent, ‘the Associators of this State marched to Amboy under the command of Gen. Roberdeau. The command was large, yet there was no allowance for a secretary. I offered my service voluntarily, only that my expenses should be paid, all the charges I put Gen. Roberdeau to was $48’. The Associators were volunteer companies recruited in Pennsylvania in the spring of 1775 following the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord. They had acquired a reputation for political radicalism, several being involved in the protests against the assembly's advocacy of reconciliation rather than independence. As we have seen, this had culminated in the assembly being superseded by a convention that met on 15 July to thrash out a new constitution for the state. This was to become notorious as the most radical of all the state constitutions in the infant republic, and the Associators had significant input into it. One of its provisions was to enfranchise all members of the militia over twenty-one. Paine is often claimed as one of the authors of the constitution, but he was not present at the deliberations in Philadelphia. ‘Just at the time the Convention first met’, he insisted, ‘I went to camp, and continued there till a few days before Christmas. I held no correspondence with either party, for, or against, the present constitution.