Thomas Paine; J. Powell

He wrote the three top-selling literary works of the eighteenth century, which inspired the American Revolution, issued a historic battle cry for individual rights and chal lenged the corrupt power of government churches. His radical vision and dramatic, plainspoken style connected with artisans, servants, soldiers, merchants, farmers, and laborers alike. Paine's work breathes fire to this day. His devastating attacks on tyranny com pare with the epic thrusts of Voltaire and Jonathan Swift, but unlike these authors, there wasn't a drop of cynicism in Paine. He was always earnest in the pursuit of liberty. He was confident that free people would fulfill their destiny. He provoked explosive controversy. The English monarchy hounded him into exile and decreed the death penalty if he ever returned. Egalitarian leaders of the French Revolution ordered him into a Paris prison he narrowly escaped death by guillotine.

Because of his critical writings on religion, he was shunned and ridiculed during his last years in America. Mr. Powell is editor ofLaissezFaire Books and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. He has writtenforThe New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, American Heritage, and more than three dozen other publications. Copyright © 1996 by Jim Powell. But fellow Founders recognized Paine's rare talent. Benjamin Franklin helped him get started in Philadelphia and considered him an ' 'adopted political son." Paine served as an aide to George Washington. He was a compatriot of Samuel Adams. James Madison was a booster. James Monroe helped spring him from prison in France. His most steadfast friend was Thomas Jef ferson. Paine was a prickly pear-vain, tactless, untidy-but he continued to charm people. Pioneering individualist feminist Mary Wollstonecraft wrote: "He kept everyone in astonishment and admiration for his memory, his keen observation of men and manners, his numberless anecdotes of the American Indians, of the American war, of Franklin, Washington, and even of his Maj esty, of whom he told several curious facts of humour and benevolence."

Despite his blazing intelligence, Paine had some half-baked ideas. To remedy injustices of the English monarchy, he proposed rep resentative government which would enact "progressive" taxation, "universal" edu cation, "temporary" poor relief, and old age pensions. He naively assumed such policies would do what they were supposed to, and it didn't occur to him that political power corrupts representative government like every other government. Yet in the same work containing these proposals-Rights of Man, Part II-Paine 48 affirmed his libertarian principles again and again. For example: "Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It has its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist ifthe formality of government was abolished." The "Muse of Fire" Paine stood five feet, ten inches tall, with an athletic build. He dressed simply. He had a long nose and intense blue eyes. His friend Thomas Clio Rickman noted that "His eye, of which the painter could not convey the exquisite meaning, was full, brilliant, and singularly piercing. He had in it the 'muse of fire.' "

Thomas Paine was born on January 29, 1737, in Thetford, England. His mother, Francis Cooke, came from a local Anglican family of some distinction. His father, Joseph Paine, was a Quaker farmer and shoemaker. Although Thomas Paine wasn't a practicing Quaker, he endured some of the intolerance directed against Quakers. Paine took a while to find his calling. He left school at age 12 and began apprentice ship as a Thetford corset-maker, but he didn't like it. Twice he ran away from home. The second time, in April 1757,hejoined the crew of the King ofPrussia, a privateer that didn't find much booty. He tried his hand as a corset-maker again, then as an English teacher and independent Methodist preacher. Public-speaking experience surely gave him insights about what it takes to stir large numbers of people. Paine's most puzzling decision was to become an excise tax collector. He got fired, landed another excise tax-collecting job, and got fired again after writing a pamphlet to promote pay raises. Paine witnessed the resourcefulness of smugglers, resentment against tax collectors, and the pervasive ness of government corruption.

Except for a couple of brief interludes, Paine was a loner. Believing that marriage should be based on love, not social status or fortune, he wed Mary Lambert, a household 49 servant, in September 1759, but within a year she died during childbirth. In March 1771, he married again-Elizabeth Ollive, a 20-year-old teacher. While trying to earn a living as a grocer and tobacconist, he went bankrupt in early 1774. Most of his posses sions were auctioned April 14th. Two months later, Paine and his wife went their separate ways. Meanwhile, he thrived on discussions about philosophy and practical politics. In Lewes, Paine belonged to the Headstrong Club, a discussion group. It gathered weekly at the White Horse Tavern where Paine relished ale and oysters. One of the mem bers was an ardent republican and defender of libertarian rebel John Wilkes. Paine's radical libertarian views jelled. Intellectually curious, Paine liked to browse in bookstores, attend lectures on scientific subjects, and meet thoughtful people. He befriended a London astrono mer who introduced him to Benjamin Frank lin, then working to expand business with England. Franklin seems to have convinced Paine that he could make a better life in America, and Franklin provided a letter of introduction to his son-in-law in Philadel phia.

Arrival in America Paine arrived November 30, 1774. He rented a room at Market and Front streets, the southeast corner-from which he could see the Philadelphia Slave Market. He spent spare time in a bookstore operated by Rob ert Aiken. Paine must have impressed the bookseller as a lively and literate man, because he was offered the job of editing Aiken's new publication, The Pennsylvania Magazine. For Paine, this experience was a proving ground. He produced at least 17 articles, perhaps as many as 26, all signed with such pseudonyms as "Vox Populi," "Justice, and Humanity." He edged closer to the controversy of America's future relation ship with England. He vehemently attacked slavery and called for prompt emancipation. Then came the Battle of Lexington, at 50 THE FREEMAN • JANUARY 1996 dawn on April 19, 1775. British Major John Pitcairn ordered his troops to fire on Amer ican militiamen gathered in front of a meet inghouse, killing eight and wounding ten.

The outraged Paine resolved to defend American liberty. Common Sense In early September, he began making notes for a pamphlet. He probably started writing around the first of November. He worked at a wobbly table, scratching out the words with a goose quill pen on rough buff paper. The manuscript proceeded slowly, because writing was always difficult for Paine. He discussed the evolving draft with Dr. Benjamin Rush whom he had met at Aiken's bookstore. The draft was com pleted in early December. Paine got com ments from astronomer David Rittenhouse, brewer Samuel Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. Paine thought of calling his pam phlet Plain Truth, but Dr. Rush recom mended the more earthy Common Sense. Dr. Rush arranged for the pamphlet to be published by Robert Bell, a Scotsman who had become a noted Philadelphia publisher, colorful auctioneer, and underground sup porter of American independence. Priced at 2 shillings, the 47-page Common Sense written anonymously "by an English man"-was published on January 10, 1776.

Paine signed over royalties to the Continen tal Congress. With simple, bold, and inspiring prose, Paine launched a furious attack on tyranny. He denounced kings as inevitably corrupted by political power. He broke with previous political thinkers when he distinguished between government compulsion and civil society where individuals pursue private productive lives. Paine envisioned a "Con tinental union" based on individual rights. He answered objections from those who feared a break with England. He called for a declaration to stir people into action. Common Sense crackled with unforget table lines. For example: "Society is pro duced by our wants, and government by our wickedness. . . . The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.... Now is the seed-time of Continental union. . . . We have every opportunity and every encour agement before us to form the noblest, purest constitution on the face of the earth .... O! ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth!. . . . We have it in our power to begin the world over again. . . .

The birthday of a new world is at hand." The first edition sold out quickly. Soon rival editions began appearing. Printers in Boston, Salem, Newburyport, Newport, Providence, Hartford, Norwich, Lancaster, Albany, and New York issued editions. Within three months, Paine estimated that over 120,000 copies had been printed. Dr. Rush recalled that "Its effects were sudden and extensive upon the American mind. It was read by public men, repeated in clubs, spouted in Schools, and in one instance, delivered from the pulpit instead of a ser mon by a clergyman in Connecticut." George Washington declared that Common Sense offered "sound doctrine and unan swerable reasoning." Paine's incendiary ideas leaped across borders. An edition appeared in French speaking Quebec. John Adams reported that "Common Sense was received in France and in all Europe with Rapture." There were editions in London, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. Common Sense was translated into German and Danish, and copies got into Russia. Altogether, some 500,000 cop ies were sold.

Common Sense changed the political cli mate in America. Before its publication, most colonists still hoped things could be worked out with England. Then suddenly, this pamphlet triggered debates where in creasing numbers of people spoke openly for independence. The Second Continental Congress asked Thomas Jefferson to serve on a five-person committee that would draft the declaration Paine had suggested in Com mon Sense. "Thomas Paine's Common Sense," reflected Harvard University historian Ber nard Bailyn, "is the most brilliant pamphlet written during the American Revolution, THOMAS PAINE-PASSIONATE PAMPHLETEER FOR LIBERTY 51 and one of the most brilliant pamphlets ever written in the English language. How it could have been produced by the bankrupt Quaker corset-maker, the sometime teacher, preacher, and grocer, and twice-dismissed excise officer who happened to catch Ben jamin Franklin's attention in England and who arrived in America only fourteen months before Common Sense was pub lished is nothing one can explain without explaining genius itself."

When Independence brought war, Paine enlisted as a military secretary for General Daniel Roberdeau, then for General Natha niel Greene, and by year-end 1776 he was with General George Washington. The un trained, poorly paid Americans, typically serving for a year, were routed by well trained British soldiers and ruthless Hessian mercenaries. "The Harder the Conflict, the More Glorious the Triumph" Paine wondered how he could boost mo rale. By evening campfire he began writing a new pamphlet. When he returned to Phil adelphia, he took his manuscript to the Philadelphia Journal, which published it on December 19th as an eight-page essay, American Crisis. On Christmas Day 1776, George Washington read it to his soldiers. Paine's immortal opening lines: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." Within hours, Washington's fired-up soldiers launched a surprise attack on sleeping Hessians in Trenton, giving Americans a much-needed battle victory.

By the time the Revolutionary War ended, Paine had written a dozen more American Crisis essays. They dealt with military and diplomatic issues as Paine pro moted better morale. In the second essay, published January 13, 1777, Paine coined the name "United States of America." After the British surrendered at York town, Paine was broke, and he didn't know how he would earn a living. He wanted a government stipend for what he had done to help achieve American Independence. New York State gave him a 300-acrefarm in New Rochelle, about 30 miles from New York City, which had belonged to a British loy alist. Congress voted Paine $3,000for war related expenses he had paid out of pocket. Then he came up with an idea for cashing in on the American bridge-building boom. He didn't find American backers, so on Franklin's recommendation, he sought sup port in France and England. While the project fizzled, it brought him into contact with leading classical liberals of the day. In France, he renewed his friendship with Marquis de Lafayette, who had served the American Revolution. Lafayette introduced Paine to the Marquis de Condorcet, a French mathematician and influential clas sicalliberal. In England, Paine met Parlia mentary radical Charles James Fox and Edmund Burke, a Parliamentary defender of the American Revolution and friend of rad ical John Wilkes.

The outbreak of the French Revolution, in July 1789, horrified Burke who began writ ing his counterrevolutionary manifesto, Reflections on the Revolution in France. It defended monarchy and aristocratic privi lege. Burke's book appeared November 1, 1790, and it reportedly sold almost 20,000 copies within a year. French, German, and Italian editions soon followed. Rights of Man Meanwhile, Paine, who had been working on a new book about general principles of liberty, learned the gist of Burke's manifesto and decided to revise his book as a rebuttal. He moved into a room at the Angel Inn, Islington, where he could concentrate on the project. He started work November 4th. He worked steadily, often by candlelight, for some three months. He finished the first part of Rights of Man on January 29, 1791-his 52 THE FREEMAN • JANUARY 1996 birthday. He was 54. He dedicated the work affectionately to George Washington, and it was published on Washington's birthday, February 22nd.