Thomas Paine is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States for his contributions during the nation's formative period. His radical ideas of democracy and human nature were a driving forced behind the American Revolution, even though these ideas were eventually rejected as being too radical. His philosophy shaped the political development of both the Untied States and revolutionary France.
Early Years
Thomas Paine was born to a Quaker family in the British town of Thetford, located in Norfolk, on January 29, 1737. He received a simple education and moved on to work among his fellow laborer class. He took on a wide range of jobs, from Methodist preacher to a corset maker. Paine failed miserably as a tax collector, and was fired twice from this position. In 1759, he married Mary Lambert, but she died the next year. In 1771, he married another woman, Elizabeth Olive, but the couple soon separated.
Paine met Ben Franklin in London in 1774. The two men got along well and Franklin provided Paine with a letter of recommendation for his job search. That same year Paine boarded a ship bound for the colonies. There, he found a job as the editor of the "Pennsylvania Magazine."
Seeds of Revolution
When Paine arrived in the American colonies, he found that the people were divided over the issue of rebelling against British rule. Paine quickly joined with those who sought independence for the colonies and in the process began a career of writing political pamphlets. His work, "Common Sense," attempted to explain to all classes of society the need to break away from Britain. It was so influential that 150,000 copies were sold in the first year of publication. The high sales were due in part to Paine's unique writing style. He was a master at sarcasm, but also used a clear style that could be understood by the farmers and laborers as well as the elite. These sales were important to Paine since, unlike most other pamphlet writers, he had no other occupation or source of income. He continued his endeavors with a 16 pamphlet series, called "American Crisis," which contains the classic line "These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country...." These works helped define what the colonies were fighting for, a new establishment and society that was free of the past corruption of the European monarchies.
Paine was controversial for more than his political opinions. His religious views also drew the ire of his opponents. Paine was a deist, believing in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only. He publicly rejected orthodox Christianity during an age when that was not commonly done. Although people inaccurately accused him of being an atheist, he did believe in the existence of a creator. However, he vehemently rejected all creeds, or revelation beyond that found in nature. While he did quote the bible in his works, he did so only to make his arguments persuasive to a particular audience and not because he felt the bible was in any way divinely inspired.
Politics in the New Nation
After the American Revolution, Paine continued to shape the political life of the United States. He argued for a prudent fiscal policy, and became a harsh critic of the Articles of Confederation, the governing document of the US from the Revolution until the adoption of Constitution in 1789. By that time, Paine had left America and traveled to Britain and France in an attempt to build a new style of iron bridge. While in Europe, he became a fierce supporter of the French Revolution, and argued for it in his tract "The Rights of Man." This was an answer to British statesman Edmund Burke's sweeping attack on the Revolution. Paine called on the people of Britain to overthrow their king as the French had done. Because of this, Paine was indicted for treason by a British court, and fled to France. There he was at first very popular, and was even elected to the National Assembly. Nobody's position was stable in the French Revolution, however, and Paine found himself in jail after voting to spare the life of the deposed Louis XVI. While in prison, Paine began writing his "Age of Reason," which called on its readers to reject both Christianity and atheism and embrace deism.
Paine returned to the United States in 1802, but was not embraced by his former comrades. His "Age of Reason" had alienated many people who rejected his radical religious ideas. The unrestrained bloodshed of the French Revolution also caused his political ideas to lose credibility. The idea that people were primarily good and governments a necessary evil lost popularity as the French mobs carried a ceaseless procession of innocents to the guillotine. Paine's character was also attacked at this time, as his enemies accused him of drunkenness and adultery. He died on June 8, 1807, an unknown and destitute man rejected by the very society he had helped to build.
Paine's philosophical ideas helped shape the underlying sociological currents of the United States and France. His ability to convey complex philosophical messages to the masses acted as a double-edged sword, making him wildly popular at the beginning of his career, and extremely hated at the end of his life. His goals to alter government and begin an uncorrupted society helped establish many of the operative concepts that reject monarchy in favor of democracy.
By Sara Ann McGill
Source: Thomas Paine, 2005, p1, 2p