Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine (b. 1737–d. 1809) was born in Thetford, England, the son of Joseph Pain [sic], a Quaker stay-maker. Educated at the local grammar school, he was apprenticed to his father, but soon tried out several other occupations. By mid-1774 he was in financial difficulties and legally separated from his second wife. He took Benjamin Franklin’s advice to seek his fortune in Philadelphia, which he reached in November 1774. By early 1775 Paine was editing and contributing to the Pennsylvania Magazine. In January 1776 he produced a short, but immensely influential, pamphlet, Common Sense, which attacked George III and the British Constitution and encouraged the American colonies to seek their independence. During the War of Independence, he produced essays on the American Crisis, encouraging the colonists that ultimate victory could be theirs. He also wrote in support of Pennsylvania’s new constitution, served for a time as secretary to Congress’s Committee for Foreign Affairs, and even visited France to secure financial assistance for the American cause. After the war, Paine took an interest in scientific and engineering experiments and devised a single-span iron bridge. In 1787 he sailed to Europe to secure backing in either France or Britain to build such a bridge. In both France and Britain, he associated with men seeking political reforms and constitutional changes. In London he produced two widely distributed volumes of the Rights of Man (1791–1792) defending radical reform and advocating improvements in the welfare of the poor. Fearing arrest, he fled to France in September 1792. In France, Paine was elected as a deputy to the newly established National Convention. His pacific views led to his arrest in late December 1793. He narrowly avoided execution, but was finally released in 1795. Arrest and imprisonment did not prevent him producing his Age of Reason, in two parts. This attack on the Bible and the clergy was also widely distributed. After his release, Paine was no longer active in French politics, though he continued to produce political works. His Agrarian Justice (1796) advocated taxes on landed property to fund welfare benefits for the poor. He also wrote attacking the British financial system and castigating George Washington’s conduct. In 1802 Paine returned to America. Although welcomed by President Jefferson and more warmly by radical artisans in New York, he was bitterly attacked by many who deplored his religious and political views and denigrated his moral character. He engaged in a press war with his New York critics until shortly before his death in June 1809. He died neglected and largely friendless. He was denied burial in a churchyard and was interred on his farm in New Rochelle.