Thomas Paine was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary whose 'Common Sense' pamphlet and Crisis papers were important influences on the American Revolution. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era ideals of transnational human rights.
Paine was born on February 9, 1737 (O.S. January 29, 1736) to a family of moderate means in Norfolk, England.
He authored Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783), two of the most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, and helped inspire the Patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain.
Early Life
After a short basic education, he started to work, first for his father, later as an officer of the excise.
Just when his situation appeared hopeless, he met Benjamin Franklin in London, who advised him to seek his fortune in America and gave him letters of introduction (including one to Franklin’s son-in-law, Richard Bache).
Paine landed at Philadelphia on November 30, 1774. Starting over as a publicist, he first published his African Slavery in America, in the spring of 1775, criticizing slavery in America as being unjust and inhumane.
In 'Common Sense,' Paine states that sooner or later independence from England must come, because America had lost touch with the mother country. In his words, all the arguments for the separation of England are based on nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense.
While many other writers spoke of England trampling on the British rights of colonials, but believed King George III would soon rectify the wrongs done to the colonies, Paine argued that the entire British system was fundamentally based on a tyranny of aristocracy and monarchy.
Paine also worked with radicals in Philadelphia to draft a new state constitution in 1776 that abolished property qualifications for voting and holding office.
Paine returned to Britain in 1787, but soon experienced persecution due to his fervent support of the French Revolution. When the conservative English writer and politician Edmund Burke heavily criticized the French Revolution, Paine wrote a new work titled The Rights of Man which argued that oppression in society stemmed from aristocratic control of an unequal and undemocratic political system. Paine was charged with treason and escaped to France in 1793 where he was elected a member of the National Assembly.
He died in New York City in 1809 and was buried in New Rochelle on the farm given to him by the state of New York as a reward for his Revolutionary writings.
(To receive our E-paper on WhatsApp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
