Thomas Paine - Founder and Writer of Common Sense and American Crisis

Thomas Paine - Founder and Writer of Common Sense and American Crisis

In this episode on Traveling Through History, we do a deep dive into the life and impact of one of our lesser-known Founders - Thomas Paine, one of the greatest writers in our country's history.  Paine wrote 2 of the most influential pamphlets leading to the American Revolution and drive for independence, while espousing novel ideas on citizen's rights and a new form of democratic government.

Paine was born in Thetford, Norfolk, and immigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution.  Virtually every American Patriot read his 47-page pamphlet Common Sense, which catalyzed the call for independence from Great Britain.  The American Crisis was a pro-independence pamphlet series.  Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution.  While in England, he wrote Rights of Man (1791), in part a defense of the French Revolution against its critics, particularly the Anglo-Irish conservative writer Edmund Burke. His authorship of the tract led to a trial and conviction in absentia in England in 1792 for the crime of seditious libel.

The British government of William Pitt the Younger was worried by the possibility that the French Revolution might spread to Britain and had begun suppressing works that espoused radical philosophies.  Paine's work advocated the right of the people to overthrow their government and was therefore targeted with a writ for his arrest issued in early 1792.  Paine fled to France in September, despite not being able to speak French, but he was quickly elected to the French National Convention.  In December 1793, Vadier arrested Paine and took him to Luxembourg Prison in Paris.  He completed the first part of The Age of Reason just before he was arrested.  Mark Philp notes that "In prison Paine managed to produce (and to convey to Daniel Isaac Eaton, the radical London publisher) a dedication for The Age of Reason and a new edition of the Rights of Man with a new preface."  James Monroe used his diplomatic connections to get Paine released in November 1794.

We review a short video about Thomas Paine's life, writings and impact on the formation of the United States as it broke away from the English crown!

To see our other episodes about impactful writers of the American Revolution:

👉 JOHN DICKINSON - Penman of the American Revolution and Lesser-Known Founder  https://youtu.be/i26JX-73kwg?si=SouPLZKiw5t3pC8B 

👉 Thomas Jefferson: A Founding Father Biography & Louisiana Purchase  https://youtu.be/AGedcZr9ZnU?si=SHfiW0OdiS8KBgdq 

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