About the author
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.
Synopsis
A defense of the French Revolution, popular sovereignty, natural rights, and democratic reform.
Quote to notice
Direct quote · Public domain“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”
Paine’s radicalism begins from suspicion of inherited authority: just because something is old does not mean it is just.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Burke to understand the classic argument between revolution and inherited order.
Reading note
Best read directly against Burke. Together they form one of the clearest debates between radical reform and conservative caution.
Best paired with
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.