In late 1774, the American representative in London, Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), was introduced to a combative young Englishman named Thomas Paine (1737–1809). Franklin, impressed by Paine’s intellect, gave the young man a piece of advice: Come to America.
Later that year, on Franklin’s recommendation, Paine sailed for Philadelphia. Within eighteen months, Paine had become one of the most famous writers on the continent and the author of fiery anti-British political tracts that would play a major role in mobilizing support for the American Revolution.
For Paine, leaving England was, perhaps, a relief. By the time he met Franklin, Paine had failed at several businesses and only narrowly escaped going to debtor’s prison. He had married twice; his first wife died in childbirth, and he had separated from his second. He had also worked as a schoolteacher, tax collector, and servant.
Paine had developed an intense hatred for British monarchy and a growing belief in republicanism. Moving to America, already on the verge of revolution by 1774, gave him the opportunity to put his beliefs into action.
In early 1776, Paine published Common Sense, a fifty-page pamphlet that attacked the Crown in direct, lucid prose and argued for independence. After the war, Paine moved back to England and began writing Rights of Man, a more expansive political treatise on human rights. He was forced to leave England in 1792 and moved to France, where he was an enthusiastic backer of the French Revolution. He was arrested in 1793, however, and narrowly escaped the guillotine.
During his stay in the French prison, assuming that he was about to die, Paine wrote his most controversial book, The Age of Reason, an attack on organized religion. The book enraged many of his allies, including Adams, and he was shunned when he returned to the United States in 1802. He died in New York City at age seventy-two.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- Paine was granted honorary French citizenship in 1792 and made a member of the French National Assembly. He voted against the death penalty for Louis XVI (1754–1793)—a stance that eventually helped lead to his own arrest the next year.
- Although he offended Adams with his views on religion, Paine was a lifelong friend of Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), who said in 1821 that “no writer has exceeded Paine.”
- Originally born Thomas Pain, Paine added the final e to his name after immigrating to America.
