Thomas Paine
[1737-1809]
The Anglo-American revolutionary writer Thomas
Paine, b. England, Jan. 29, 1737, d. June 8, 1809, called for
American independence in his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, which
was widely distributed and had a profound influence on public
opinion in America. An English excise officer, Paine was
dismissed (1774), probably for agitating for a salary increase,
and emigrated to America on the recommendation of Benjamin
Franklin. In Philadelphia from 1774, Paine became a journalist
and essayist. After the publication of Common Sense, which sold
100,000 copies in 3 months, he continued to inspire and
encourage the patriots during the Revolutionary War in the
series of pamphlets called The Crisis (1776-83).
|
Paine returned (1787) to England after the war and published The
Rights of Man (1791-92), in which he defended the French Revolution in
response to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France
(1790). Outlawed for treason, Paine fled (1792) to France, became a
French citizen, and was elected to the National Convention. Imprisoned
(1793-94) during the Reign of Terror, Paine wrote the first part of
Age of Reason (1794), a deistic statement of his religious views. All
Paine's works reflect his belief in natural reason and natural rights,
political equality, tolerance, civil liberties, and the dignity of
man. His Age of Reason and his criticism of George Washington in
Letter to Washington (1796), however, made him unpopular. Paine
returned to the United States in 1802 and died in poverty.
|