Thomas Paine was an English pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, inventor, and intellectual. He came to the American Colonies later in life and eventually published a pamphlet that would change the course of history. Continue reading for more facts.
Fact #1 - Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, England in 1737.
Wait you mean one of the men responsible for the uprising in America and starting the Revolution against Great Britain wasn’t even born in America?! Believe it my friend. Very few people were natural born back in 1737. In fact, Paine didn’t come to the Colonies until he was 37 years old.
Fact #2 - Thomas Paine wrote several books including “Common Sense” and “Right of Man.”
Common Sense presented the American colonists with an argument for independence from British rule at a time when the question of independence was still undecided. The book was originally published anonymously and written with a style of writing that the average man could comprehend.
Fact #3 - Thomas Paine was an early advocate of republicanism and liberalism, dismissing monarchy, and viewing government as a necessary evil.
When you look back on the birth of America, you’ll see that a lot of the founding fathers opposed government. Yet today, it seems like we’ve strayed from that thinking by installing more and more government programs every day. He opposed slavery, proposed universal, free public education, a guaranteed minimum income, and other ideas then considered radical.
Fact #4 - Paine was an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution and served on the French National Convention.
During his time in France, he fell out of favor with the powers at be and was arrested and imprisoned. He spent nearly 1 year in prison and was released in 1794.
