|| by Bob Blythe
most important political tract of the Revolution was written not
by a lawyer or university-educated philosopher, but by a former
corset maker. This tract, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense,
appeared in January 1776, when most Americans were hoping for a
reconciliation with Britain. Common Sense argued in clear
and forceful language that the time had come for the colonists to
declare their independence. Their liberty would never be safe while
Britain governed them, he argued, because the “so much boasted
constitution of England” included two “constitutional
errors”: monarchy and hereditary rule. Paine urged the Americans
to create a new form of government - a modern republic - based entirely
on popular consent. Within a few months, 200,000 copies of the pamphlet
were in circulation.
Thomas Paine was the son of a Quaker corset
maker, Joseph Paine, of Thetford, England. He attended grammar school
in England until he was thirteen, when he was forced to end his
education and become an apprentice in his father’s trade.
Paine soon left corset making and from 1756 to 1774, he tried a
number of occupations, working as a teacher, grocer, tobacco seller,
and excise tax collector. Without a head for practical affairs,
Paine was unsuccessful in all of these endeavors.
While in London, Paine met Benjamin Franklin,
who was acting as an agent to the British government for colonial
interests. Widely renowned for his experiments with electricity,
Franklin wrote letters of introduction for Paine, who had decided
to pursue a new life in America. Paine settled in Philadelphia in
late 1774, barely a year before Common Sense appeared.
He soon became a journalist, contributing articles to local newspapers.
Paine was largely self-educated, having closely studied the political
and scientific thought of the age. He developed a powerful and direct
prose style that was accessible to men and women from all walks
Following the huge success of Common Sense
in 1776, Paine served briefly in the Continental Army, but his most
valuable service was as a propagandist. Throughout the war, he wrote
installments of the Crisis, which circulated around the
campfires of the army, helping to keep up the troops’ morale.
The introduction to the first number of the Crisis contains
language that is still widely known:
These are the times that try men's souls.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis,
shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands
it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny,
like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation
with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the
the American Revolution, Paine returned to Britain to oversee the
construction of an iron bridge that he had designed. A fascination
with mechanical devices was another aspect of Paine’s wide-ranging
curiosity. When the French Revolution began in 1789, he was one
of its first British supporters. As a result, the French made Paine
a citizen and elected him to their assembly. His Rights of Man,
published in 1791-92, remains a classic articulation of the need
for republican forms of government to safeguard human rights. Banned
from Britain for his radical beliefs, Paine was briefly imprisoned
in France during the Reign of Terror. While in prison, he was able
to continue work on another of his writings, The Age of Reason,
published in two parts in 1794 and 1796. Also, in 1796, Paine published
an open Letter to George Washington. His accusations that
the president was indifferent to his plight in France tarnished
Paine’s reputation in the United States.
Paine returned to the United States in 1802.
His attack on Washington and false reports that he was an atheist
caused him to be shunned by respectable society. He divided his
time between his house in New Rochelle, New York, and lodgings in
New York City and Bordentown, New Jersey. Paine died in New York
City in 1809. Agitator, pamphleteer, Deist, abolitionist, inventor—Thomas
Paine embodied the revolutionary radicalism of the eighteenth century.
More than anyone, he exemplified the new possibilities available
in the age of America’s revolution.
To learn more:
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, the Rights
of Man, and Other Essential Writings, edited by Jack Fruchtman
(New York: Signet, 2003).
Jack Fruchtman, Thomas Paine: Apostle of
Freedom (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994).
John Keane, Tom Paine: A Political Life
(New York: Little, Brown, 1995).
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