Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was an English-born political writer and revolutionary whose pamphlets, including Common Sense and The American Crisis, advocated American independence.

Republicanism: A political tradition that grounds legitimate government in the people and rejects hereditary rule. Paine argued that monarchy violated popular sovereignty.
Common Sense: Thomas Paine’s 1776 pamphlet arguing that the American colonies should become independent from Britain. Its direct attack on monarchy made independence a mass political question.
Thetford: A market town in Norfolk, England, where Thomas Paine was born in 1737. Paine’s modest English beginnings preceded his rise as a revolutionary writer.
Declaration of Independence: The 1776 document in which the American colonies declared themselves independent from Great Britain. Paine’s arguments helped build public support for the declaration’s cause.
American Revolution: The political and military struggle through which thirteen British colonies became the United States. Paine’s pamphlets helped turn colonial resistance toward independence.
The American Crisis: A series of essays Paine published during the American Revolutionary War to sustain support for the cause. Its opening line, “These are the times that try men’s souls,” rallied the revolutionary struggle.
Benjamin Franklin: An American printer, scientist, and political leader who helped secure French support for American independence. Franklin encouraged Paine to emigrate to the American colonies in 1774.
French Revolution: The political revolution that began in France in 1789 and ended its monarchy and old regime. Paine supported the revolution and served in the French National Convention.
Age of Enlightenment: An intellectual movement emphasizing reason, criticism of inherited authority, and reform. Its arguments about rights and reason shaped Paine’s political language.
Rights of Man: Thomas Paine’s two-part defense of the French Revolution and popular political rights, published in 1791 and 1792. Paine extended his defense of revolution from America to France.

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