About Thomas Paine
English-American political pamphleteer and activist (1737–1809) whose Common Sense (1776) made the case for American independence in language that reached a mass audience. Born in Norfolk and largely self-educated, Paine moved to America in 1774, returned to Europe to defend the French Revolution in Rights of Man (1791–1792), and was tried for seditious libel in absentia in Britain. He was later imprisoned in France during the Terror and died in New York, discredited and nearly forgotten — his bones were subsequently stolen by a political admirer who intended to rebury them in England.
Books by Thomas Paine
Common Sense
The pamphlet that made a revolution. In plain, fierce language, Paine demolished the case for monarchy and hereditary rule and argued that the American colonies should declare independence and govern themselves as a rep…
Read about this book →Rights of Man
A direct defense of popular rights, reform, and revolutionary liberalism against Burkean conservatism.
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