Thomas Paine and Common Sense
Common Sense gave voice to the new revolution. Paine lucidly wrote of the problems of the times and the spirit of the people who would create the nation. He donated the profits to those fighting the revolution.
Paine wrote that the American Revolutionary cause was universal: "The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested. The laying a country desolate with fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the earth, is the concern of every man to whom nature hath given the power of feeling; of which class, regardless of party censure, is the author." (Common Sense, Introduction, 1776)
To Paine, those who loved freedom were fugitives from the old world: "O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind." (Common Sense, Thoughts of the Present Sate of American Affairs, 1776) Immigrants shared a common experience - they were persecuted in the old world.
After the revolution, Paine returned to England and then to France. In England, he was a personal friend of the artist William Blake, and in 1791 he published The Rights of Man. He went to France and spent time in a French jail during the turmoil of the French Revolution; while imprisoned he began writing Age of Reason. He was released in 1794 but did not return to the United States until 1802.
During his later years, Paine turned to atheism. At age 62 on June 8 1809, he died a pauper in New York even though he was one of the most popular authors of his time.
Published by A. Collins
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