Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, 62
Adams, John, 6–7
colonial moderation and, 43–44
on Common Sense, 47
as envoy to Britain, 122
on Paine’s influence, 8
on Paine’s pamphlets, 9
Adams, Samuel, 43–44
Age of Reason, The (Paine), 172–73
Agrarian Justice (Paine), 188–90
Agricultural Society, 90, 91, 106, 107
Aitken, Robert, 28–31, 45
American Crisis, The (Paine), 7, 8, 51–52, 55, 56, 67–68
American Philosophical Society, 37–39
American Revolution, 6–9; See also Continental Army
beginnings of, 39–40
creative destruction during, 80
floating bridges in, 56–58
occupation of Philadelphia, 55
Paine as chief propagandist in, 52
Philadelphia during, 50–51
Philadelphians’ opinions on, 42–43
string of military failures in, 62
surrender of Cornwallis, 64
Washington’s defense of Philadelphia, 52–55
André, John, 63
arches
Lisson Green bridge, 2
and narrowing of piers, 94
for Old World bridges, 92–93
semicircular masonry, 92
single arch bridge, See single-arch bridge
architects, engineers and, xiii–xiv
Arnold, Benedict, 63
Articles of Confederation, 121–22
Ashley River, 80
Autobiography (Franklin), 22
balance, 12, 13
Baltimore, Maryland, 36–37, 71–72
Baltimore Republican, 178
Bank of North America, 73–76, 91, 194
Banks, Sir Joseph, 116–17
Bartram, John, 37
Bell, Robert, 46
Bell, Thomas, 78
Biddle, Owen, 184
Big Elk Creek bridge, 79, 83
Blackstone, William, 46
Bond, Thomas, 37
Bonneville, Madame, 190, 191
Bonnin & Morris, 30
Boston, Massachusetts, 39, 85–86
Boston Tea Party, 23–25
Boulton, Matthew, 97
bridges; See also individual bridges and types of construction
American architects’ new methods for, 181–83
designers and builders of, xiv
floating, 56–58
and ice in rivers, 80–81
legal barriers to, 79
in mid-Atlantic region, 78–79, 186
operation and maintenance costs for, 81–84
Paine’s new construction method for, 105–6
Pope’s treatise on bridge building, 181–82
war-time creative destruction of, 80
Brissot de Warville, Jacques-Pierre, 7, 81, 147
British empire, 12–13
British Excise Service, 17–20
Buckingham, James Silk, 184–85
Bull, Mr., 133, 134
Burdon, John, 157–58
Burke, Edmund, 97, 125–29, 132
broken heart of, 169
corruption accusations leveled by, 117
on French king’s execution, 165
Paine’s dispute with, 135–44
Reflections on the Revolution in France, 4–5, 138–40
caissons, 94
Camelback Bridge, 185–86
Capet, Louis, 163–65
Capnerhurst, Jack, 105
Case of the Officers of the Excise, The (Paine), 18–20
cast-iron bridges, 1, 2
ceramics, 30
Chambers, Sir William, 112, 127
Charles River, 85
Charles River Bridge, 85–86, 92
Châtelet, Achille François du, 147
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, 197
Chevalier, Michel, 184
Christianity, attack on, 172–73
civil government, 142
Clarkson, Thomas, 117
Clinton, George, 189
Clinton, Henry, 59
Clymer, Daniel, 71
Clymer, George, 89, 107
Commentaries on the Laws of England (Blackstone), 46
Common Sense (Paine), 8, 13, 45–47
communications, unity of the United States and, 9–11
Condorcet, Marquis de, 119, 147
constitutional convention (1787), 121–22
Constitution of the United States, 9–10
“Construction of Iron Bridges, The” (Paine), 3–4, 91, 177
Continental Army, 47
defense of Philadelphia, 52–55
at Delaware River, 50
at Fort Washington, 50
and freezing of Schuylkill River, 58–59
in New York, 49–50
Paine in, 47, 49–51
paying for needs of, 65–67
Pennsylvania volunteers in, 49
at Valley Forge, 55–56
Continental Congress, 43
Articles of Confederation and, 121, 122
Morris in, 65
taxation and, 66
Conway, Moncure, 199
Cooke, John, 15
Cooper, James Fenimore, 185
Cornwallis, Charles, 50
corporations, 193–97
Corps des Ponts et Chaussées, 108
covered bridges, 184–86
Cresy, Edward, 157
“Crisis Extraordinary, The” (Paine), 67–68
Danton, Georges-Jacques, 162–63
Darby, Abraham, 102
Darby, Abraham III, 103
Darwin, Erasmus, 97
Delaware–Chesapeake canal project, 37–39, 72–73, 197
Delaware River
defense of Philadelphia and, 52–55
floating bridges across, 57–58
free-floating ice in, 54
freezing of, 52–53, 58
democracy, Paine’s hopes for, 6
Dickens, Charles, 185–86
Dickinson, John, 40
Dissertations sur les Premiers Principes de Gouvernement (Paine), 168
Douglass, James, 173
Dunlap’s Creek bridge, 187
East India Company, 23, 41–42, 126
École des Ponts et Chaussées, 108–9, 171
École Polytechnique, 170–71
Edwards, John, 82–83
Encyclopedia of Civil Engineering (Cresy), 157
engineers, architects and, xiii–xiv
enlightened idealism, 119
Erie Canal, 10–11
Erskine, Thomas, 152
Excise Service, 17–20
Ferguson, James, 22, 28
ferries, 79–81, 86, 90
Findley, William, 74
Fitzwilliam, Fourth Earl, 132
floating bridges
during American Revolution, 56–58, 80
maintenance of, 81–82
as post-war fixture, 77–78
flying pendant lever bridge, 182
Foljambe, Francis Ferrand, 131–32
Foljambe bridge, 132, 146
Foner, Eric, 199
Fort Washington, 50
Fothergill, John, 21
Fox, Charles James, 136
France, 4, 5
American minister to, 166–67
American Revolution and, 7–8, 59
constitutional reform in, 161–65
École des Ponts et Chaussées in, 171
École Polytechnique in, 170–71
Great Britain and, 166–68
invention and philosophy in, 170
iron bridge design in, 111–16
lack of early support from, 44
Laurens’s financial mission to, 63
potential European war and, 118
in Quasi-War, 169
revolution in, 133, 136–38, 140–41, 147, 167
road and bridge design/construction in, 108–9
the Terror in, 165–66
Frankford Avenue Bridge, 79
Franklin, Benjamin, 4, 20–25, 108, 180
American Philosophical Society and, 37
American Revolution and, 40
Autobiography, 22
Boston Tea Party and, 23–25
early life of, 20–21
iron bridge design and, 108, 111
in London’s society life, 21–22
in Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, 89
Royal Academy’s report delivered by, 115
Freeman’s Journal, 74–75
Fruchtman, Jack, 199
Fulton, Robert, xii
Gazette of the United States, 83–84
General Evening Post, 145–46
gentlemen’s magazines, 29–34
George III, 40, 41, 43, 45, 138
Gordon Riots, 126
government(s)
corporations as rivals to, 194–97
of Ireland, 150–51
ordinary people’s knowledge of, 142
by the people, 140, 149
Gray’s Ferry bridge, 77–78
Great Britain
Adams as envoy to, 122
Boston Tea Party and, 23–25
bridge supporters in, 125–33
British empire, 12–13
corporation towns in, 194
costs of war in, 118–19
Excise Service, 17–20
France and, 166–68
government in, 142–43, 148–49
Paine as informal American agent in, 123
Paine in, 116–20
preparation for war with Spain, 133–34
public buildings in London, 127
reform movements in, 117, 125–26
and republicanism, 150–51
taxation in, 119, 149–50
treatment of religious minorities in, 136
Greene, Nathanael, 49, 50, 62
Grubenmann, Hans Ulrich, 183–84
Grubenmann, Johannes, 183–84
Hall, John, 80, 96–100, 104–9
Harlem River bridge, 104
Harvard College, 86
Hastings, Warren, 117
Heath, William, 52
Henderson, Andrew, 196–97
“Honest Whigs,” 22
Hume, David, 28
Hutchinson, Thomas, 25
infrastructure; See also bridges
private company building/management of, 196
unity of the United States and, 10–12
during wartime, 56
Ireland, 150–51
Iron Bridge (England), 101–4
iron bridges; See also individual bridges
in France, 111–16
in Great Britain, 134–35, 153–55
in Jamaica, 175–76
Paine’s design, 104–8; See also single-arch bridge
iron-making process, 102
Jay, John, 167
Jefferson, Thomas, 4, 175
as envoy to France, 119–22
Iron Bridge and, 101
and Paine’s Congressional petition for bridge, 178–80
Paine’s friendship with, 119–20, 122–23
on Paine’s gifts, 8
Jordan, J. S., 151
Kalm, Peter, 100
Kant, Immanuel, 119
Keane, John, 199
Kemble, Fanny, 186
King of Prussia (privateer), 16
Kirkbride, Joseph, 55
Kirkbride, Mary, 55
Labelye, Charles, 93, 94
Lafayette, Marquis de, 59
Lambert, James, 17
Lambert, Mary, 16
Lancaster–Schuylkill Bridge “Colossus,” 186–87
Laurens, Henry, 128
Laurens, John, 63
Legge, William, Lord Dartmouth, 24
Le Roy, Jean-Baptiste, 111, 115
Life of Thomas Paine, The (Conway), 199
Lisson Green (London), 1–2
Lisson Green bridge (London), 1–3, 135, 145–46, 155–57
London Bridge, 93, 173–75
London Packet, 15–16
Louis XIV, 108
Louis XVI, 114, 147, 161–65
Lunar Society, 97
Madison, James, 10
maintenance costs for bridges, 81–84
Marat, Jean-Paul, 164
masonry bridges, 93
masonry piers, 94
Massachusetts, Shays’s Rebellion in, 120
McLene, James, 196–97
mid-Atlantic region bridges, 78–79, 186
Middle Ferry Bridge, 57, 58, 78
Milbanke, Ralph, 158–59
Mills, Robert, 186
monarchs, 45, 46, 162
Monroe, James, 167–68
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 31
Montpetit, Arnaud-Vincent de, 113–15
Montresor, John, 82
Morris, Gouverneur, 6, 104, 166–67, 171
Morris, Lewis, 104
Morris, Robert, 65–70, 89
Napoleon, 170
National Road, 10–11, 187
Nelson, Craig, 199
the Netherlands, 118
Neville, John, 196
New York City, 27
New York Evening Post, 179
New York Gazette, 179–80
New York land grant, 70–71
North, Frederick, 23–24
Olive Branch Petition, 40, 43
Ollive, Elizabeth, 20
Ollive, Samuel, 20
operation costs for bridges, 81–84
Paine, Elizabeth, 16
Paine, Thomas
The Age of Reason, 172–73
Agrarian Justice, 188–90
American book trade and, 28, 29
The American Crisis, 7, 8, 51–52, 55, 56, 67–68
American reputation of, 178–81, 189
American Revolution and, 6–9
architectural career of, 1–3, 5–7
attack on Washington by, 171–72
Bank of North America controversy and, 73–76, 91
in Britain, 116–20
British bridge supporters for, 125–33
on the British empire, 12–13
British persecution of, 151–52
The Case of the Officers of the Excise, 18–20
as chief war propagandist, 52
Common Sense, 8, 13, 45–47
“The Construction of Iron Bridges,” 3–4, 91, 177
in Continental Army, 47, 49–51
on corporations, 194
“The Crisis Extraordinary,” 67–68
criticism of Schuylkill bridge project by, 106–7
death and burial of, 190–91
denial of citizenship of, 189
dispute with Burke, 135–44
Dissertations sur les Premiers Principes de Gouvernement, 168
enlightened idealism of, 119
in Excise Service, 17–20
on factions within Pennsylvania, 71–73
financial difficulty of, 61, 63–64
flight from Philadelphia, 55–56
flight to France, 152
floating bridges and, 57
Franklin and, 20–25
French constitutional reform and, 161, 163–65
French republicanism and, 147–48
Hall’s work with, 96, 98–100, 104–9
as informal American agent in Britain, 123
infrastructure improvements and, 12
interests of, 4
iron arch bridge in France, 109, 111–16
Jefferson’s friendship with, 119–20, 122–23
Lisson Green bridge and, 1–3, 135, 145–46, 155–56
London Packet trip for, 15–16
in Luxembourg prison, 165–68
marriages of, 16, 20
Monroe and, 167–68
Morris and, 65, 67–70
new bridge construction technique, 105–6
New York land grant to, 70–71
occupation of Philadelphia and, 55–56
old age of, 187–90
others’ perceptions of, 6–7
as Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk, 62
at The Pennsylvania Magazine, 30–34
permanent bridge design by, 91–92
personal characteristics of, 7
Plain Truth, 45
plan for return to Great Britain, 62–65
profit from Common Sense, 47
Prospects on the Rubicon, 117–19, 128
public call for American independence by, 41–45
on public finance, 67–70
Quasi-War and, 169
on Reflections on the Revolution in France (Burke), 5
return to America, 175, 177
return to architecture in France, 169–71
revolutionary ideology of, 9–10
Rights of Man, 5, 8, 139–45, 148–50, 152, 173, 174
“A Serious Thought,” 41–42
single-arch bridge, 91–92, 94–96, 98–99
Sunderland bridge and, 157–59
on taxation, 67–70
trip to France, 63
unity of function and form for, 113
Palmer, Timothy, 183–84
patents, 129–30, 177
patrons
Burke, 125–29
Foljambe, 131–32
Walker family, 130–33
Whiteside, 129–30
Peale, Charles Willson, 54, 78, 180, 181
Penn, William, 78
Pennsylvania
Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, 62
Bank of North America and, 73–76
1790 constitution of, 196–97
corporations in, 194–97
division within, 12, 40, 71–73, 193–94, 197
Franklin on, 22
political symmetry and balance in, 13
river system in, 3
shipping of goods within, 36–39
taxation in, 195–96
volunteer forces in, 49
Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, 57
Pennsylvania General Assembly, 43, 74, 90
Pennsylvania Journal, 51
Pennsylvania Magazine, The, 30–34
Pennsylvania Packet, 68, 80
Pennypack Creek bridge, 78–79
Perronet, Jean, 111–13
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 25–29; See also Schuylkill River bridges
American Revolution and, 39, 40, 42–43
bridge operations and maintenance in, 81–84
British abandonment of, 59
British occupation of, 55
capture of, 57–58
civic-mindedness of, 27–28
commercial status of, 195
defense of, 52–55
employment of literate men in, 23
fading influence of, 197
first permanent bridge, 89–91
Franklin on, 22
Middle Ferry Bridge, 57, 58
ownership of bridges in, 80
political symmetry and balance in, 13
printing trade in, 50
proposed canal and, 197
as publishing center, 28–29
during the Revolution, 50–51
Susquehanna River trade and, 37–39
trade through, 25–27
war-time economic disruption in, 61
Washington’s defense of, 52–55
Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, 89–90
Philp, Mark, 199
Picton, J. A., 158
piers, 93–94
Piscataqua bridge, 183
Pitt, William, 134, 148, 151, 152
Plain Truth (Paine), 45; See also Common Sense (Paine)
Pont de Neuilly bridge (France), 112
Ponte Sant’Angelo (Rome), 93
Pope, Thomas, 181–82
Portland, Duke of, 128, 129
post-and-lintel method, 92
Prichard, Thomas Farnolls, 103
Priestley, Joseph, 97
Pringle, John, 21
printing trade, 28, 50, 56
Prospects on the Rubicon (Paine), 117–19, 128
Providence Gazette, 69
Prussia, 118
public finance
through Bank of North America, 73–76
through taxation, 67–70; See also taxation
Public Ledger, 187
publishing trade, 28–29
Quasi-War, 169
Reflections on the Revolution in France (Burke), 4–5, 138–40
religious minorities, in Great Britain, 136
Revolutionary War, See American Revolution
Rhoads, Samuel, 36–39
Rhode Island, 69–70
Rickman, Thomas “Clio,” 148
Ridley Creek bridge, 79
Rights of Man (Paine), 5, 8, 139–45, 148–50, 152, 173, 174
Rittenhouse, David, 99–100, 180
River Don bridge, 132
River Wear iron bridge, 53, 155–57
Roberdeau, Daniel, 49
Robespierre, Maximilien, 163
Rockingham, Marquess of, 125–27
Rockingham Whigs, 125
Rodney, Thomas, 54
Royal Academy of Arts (England), 127
Royal Academy of Sciences (France), 111–12, 115
Royal Society (England), 117, 127
Rush, Benjamin, 180
on Common Sense, 46
Paine enlisted by, 44
in Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, 89
reputation of, 44–45
Ryder, Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius, 187–90
sans-culottes, 162
Schuylkill Permanent Bridge Company, 90–91, 106–7, 183, 184
Schuylkill River, 85
capture of Philadelphia and, 57–58
freezing of, 58–59
linking Susquehanna River to, 39
operation and maintenance costs for, 81–84
Schuylkill River bridge(s), 77–87
first permanent bridge, 10, 89–91, 183–84, 207–8n.2
floating bridges, 56–58, 77–78
Lancaster–Schuylkill Bridge “Colossus,” 186–87
Paine’s plan for, 3, 5, 177–80
Peale’s proposal for, 181
“Serious Thought, A” (Paine), 41–42
Severn River Gorge bridge (England), 101–4
shallow arch, 95
Sharp, Granville, 117
Shays, Daniel, 120
Shays’s Rebellion, 120
Shropshire, England, 102
single-arch bridges, 91–92, 94–96, 98–99; See also individual bridges
abutments for, 100
British supporters of, 125–33
in France, 109, 111–16
iron, 101–9
Paine’s iron bridge design, 104–8, 118
patents for, 129–30
prototype of, 129–31
stone, 100–101
wood, 100, 101
slavery, 6
slave trade, 117
Smith, Adam, 18, 28
Smith, Robert, 158
Smith, Reverend William, 45
Soane, John, 155–56
Société des Republicains, 147
Society of Antiquaries (England), 127
Somerset House (London), 127
Spain, 133–34
Spanish Town, Jamaica, bridge, 175–76
steam engines, 97
Stevenson, Margaret, 21
Stevenson, Polly, 21
stone bridges, 79, 100–101, 103
Strahan, William, 21
Sullivan, John, 82
Sullivan’s Bridge, 82–83
Sunderland Bridge, 153–59
Susquehanna River, 36–39, 185–86
symmetry, 12, 13
taxation, 6
in Britain, 119, 149–50
British Excise Service, 17–20
costs of war and, 66
in Massachusetts, 120–21
Morris’ plan for, 66–67
Paine on, 67–70
in Pennsylvania, 195–96
for social assistance programs, 188
state quotas in, 70
Telford, Thomas, 173–75
Test and Corporation Acts, 136
textile manufacturing, 30
Thames River (London), 93
Thames River Bridge, 173–75
Thomas Paine (Fruchtman), 199
Thomas Paine (Nelson), 199
Thomas Paine (Philp), 199
tidal fluctuation, 93
timber bridges, 79
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 11–12, 183
toll rates, 84, 90
Tom Paine and Revolutionary America (Foner), 199
Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 151, 169
toy-makers, 97
trade, 25–27
Philadelphia’s importance in, 25–27
political communities and, 72–73
in western Pennsylvania, 36–37
Treaty of Amiens (1802), 175
United Company of Philadelphia for Promoting American Manufactures, 30
United Irishmen, 150–51
United States
anti-Paine sentiment in, 178–80
communications for unity of, 9–11
infrastructure and unity of, 10–12
internal improvement boom in, 193, 195
in Quasi-War, 169
Valley Forge, 55–56
Vaughan, Samuel, 89
Virginia Gazette, 179
Voltaire, 119
Waldo, Albigence, 56–57
Walker, Joseph, 130–33
Walker, Joshua, 130–33
Walker, Samuel, 130–33
Walker, Thomas, 130–33
Walker family, 130–33, 145, 146, 156, 174, 175
Ward, Samuel, 41
Washington, George, 4, 171–72, 196
André’s death and, 63
Big Elk Creek crossing by, 83
defense of Philadelphia, 52–55
en route to presidency, 77–78
floating bridges and, 57–59
freezing of rivers and, 58–59
Lafayette and, 59
Paine’s letter to, 64–65
Paine’s remuneration and, 70–71
retreat from Philadelphia, 50
Sullivan’s Bridge and, 82
surrender of Cornwallis, 64
at Valley Forge, 55–56
Washington Monument, 186
Watt, James, 97
Wealth of Nations, The (Smith), 18
Wedderburn, Alexander, 25
Wernwag, Lewis, 186
Westminster Bridge (London), 93, 94
Whiskey Rebellion, 196
Whiteside, Peter, 129–30, 145
Wilberforce, William, 117
Wilkinson, John, 103
Willing, Thomas, 65, 73
Wilson, James, 89
Wilson, Thomas, 156
Witherspoon, John, 28–29
wood bridges, 100, 101, 181–85
Wren, Sir Christopher, 101
Wyvill, Reverend Christopher, 144
Yorke, Henry Redhead, 169–70