Thomas Paine

1737-1809 · English-born; American citizen; French deputy · Political Theory, Republicanism, Deism, Political Economy

These are the times that try men's souls.

Thomas Paine (1737 – 1809) was a Norfolk staymaker, excise officer and failed shopkeeper who arrived in Philadelphia at thirty-seven with a letter from Benjamin Franklin and, fourteen months later, published *Common Sense*. It sold more copies in proportion to population than any book in American history and turned a quarrel about taxes into an argument for independence. Through the war he wrote the *Crisis* papers, the first of them read to Washington's army before Trenton; after it he designed an iron bridge, went to England to sell it, and answered Burke's attack on the French Revolution…

Topics Thomas Paine addresses

Common Sense and the case for independence
society a blessing, government a necessary evil
hereditary monarchy as absurdity
the American Crisis and the times that try men's souls
the Rights of Man against Burke
natural and civil rights
the sovereignty of the living generation
constitutions as acts of the people
representative government and the republic
the Age of Reason and deism
revelation, miracles and the Bible's credibility
my own mind is my own church
Agrarian Justice and the ground-rent fund
the national fund for the young and the old
the First Principles of Government
the decline and fall of the English system of finance
paper money and the Bank of North America
the French Revolution and the Convention
the trial of Louis XVI and the vote against execution
the Letter to Washington
the Luxembourg prison and the Terror
Public Good and the western lands
the Letter to the Abbé Raynal
the iron bridge

Questions to put to Thomas Paine

Society, Government, and the Right of Revolution

What's the difference between society and government, and why does that distinction matter so much to you?
Why do you say monarchy is an absurdity rather than just an inconvenient or unjust arrangement?
How do you argue that one generation has no right to bind the next to its laws or constitutions?
What makes a representative republic genuinely superior to every other form of government?
When is revolution not just permitted but actually required?

Common Sense and the Case for Independence

What was the argument in Common Sense that you thought no one had yet made plainly enough?
How do you make the case that reconciliation with Britain was impossible, not just undesirable?
Why do you say the English constitution is the remains of two tyrannies rather than a workable balance of powers?
What did you think the first kings actually were, and how does that history bear on the case for monarchy today?
How did you hope ordinary readers — not lawyers or scholars — would receive and use your arguments?

Rights of Man and the Welfare of the Living

Where do the rights of man actually come from, in your view?
What's the difference between a natural right and a civil right?
You proposed old-age pensions, education grants, and payments to the poor — why do you call these justice rather than charity?
How would progressive taxation of estates fund the kind of society you have in mind?
What's your answer to someone who says your welfare proposals would discourage work or undermine property?

Agrarian Justice and the Common Inheritance of the Earth

What do you mean when you say the earth in its natural state was the common property of the human race?
How do you argue that landowners owe a ground-rent to the community without abolishing private property altogether?
What would the national fund you propose actually do for a young person just starting out in life?
How is your proposal different from simply taking land away from those who own it and redistributing it?
Why do you think poverty is a wrong done to people rather than a misfortune that befalls them?

The Age of Reason and the Religion of the Creator

What do you actually believe about God, and how did you arrive at those beliefs?
You say your own mind is your own church — what do you mean by that?
Why do you argue that a revelation received by one person cannot count as revelation for anyone else?
How do you defend your reading of the Bible as unworthy of a just God without simply dismissing religion altogether?
Where do you find the true word of God, if not in scripture?

The French Revolution, Washington, and the Citizen of the World

Why did you argue against executing Louis XVI even though you supported the Revolution that overthrew him?
What happened to you during the Terror, and how did it affect your view of the Revolution's principles?
What led you to accuse George Washington of ingratitude and treachery, and do you stand by that charge?
You said the cause of America was the cause of all mankind — what does it mean to you to have no single country?
How do you answer someone who says your faith in plain reason and the common reader was too optimistic about what argument alone can achieve?

Converse with Thomas Paine on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in Thomas Paine's own writing, cited to the page.