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 Founding Generation > Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine was a best-selling author who set forth the American cause for independence through his writing. Paine published Common Sense in January of 1776, and later the American Crisis, a series of pamphlets meant to bolster colonial morale from 1776-1783. In Public Good, Paine urged separate states to cooperate and called for a strong, centralized government. He sold 150,000 copies of Common Sense, making it the most widely read pamphlet of the revolutionary period. While living in France, he wrote the first part of his most controversial work, The Age of Reason. Considered a “foreign conspirator” as France went through its post-revolution upheaval Paine was imprisoned for nearly a year. He returned to the United States in 1802. Paine’s writing helped stoke the fires for the American Revolution and people today still reference his work in calls for social action and change. Paine’s writings These are some excerpts from Paine’s work: Selected excerpts from Common Sense: I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew a single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived. "…There is something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island." "…In America, THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free governments the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other." "As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith." "It is the violence which is done and threatened to our persons; the destruction of our property by an armed force; the invasion of our country by fire and sword, which conscientiously qualifies the use of arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of defense became necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have ceased; and the independency of America, should have been considered, as dating its era from, and published by, the first musket that was fired against her." Thoughts on the Constitution Although Paine didn’t directly participate in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, his ideas about government and individual rights played a strong role in the marketplace of ideas that helped shape those documents. In his writings, Paine called for a constitution that set a framework for electing officials and term limits. He also believed in a system of checks and balances on the legislature, and finding a democratic way to both preserve and amend the constitution. Thoughts on the Bill of Rights and personal liberties Paine, an Anti-Federalist, thought that citizens’ rights should be secured in a written document like the Bill of Rights. He believed strongly in the protections in the First Amendment and a justice system that included trial by jury. Paine also called for an end to slavery. Friends and Foes It was Benjamin Franklin who encouraged Paine to emigrate to the American Colonies from England. Franklin described Paine as “an ingenuous, worthy young man.” Paine also counted Thomas Jefferson and George Washington among his friends. Although John Adams and Paine agreed on American independence, Adams thought of Paine as a radical. Nevertheless, in later years Adams couldn’t deny the impact Paine had on the Revolution: “I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine. Without the pen of Paine the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.” Thomas Jefferson, echoing Adams: "(An) advocate for human liberty, Paine wrote for a country which permitted him to push his reasoning to whatever length it would go…No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style; in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple and unassuming language." back to Founding Generation |
Thomas Paine biography C-Span American Writers The Thomas Paine Society The Thomas Paine Society |
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