Thomas Paine: Common Sense and Later Life

 

        Thomas Paine first gained international notoriety for his anonymously written pamphlet, Common Sense. Common Sense compelled America to break away from the grasp of Britain posthaste. The pamphlet became enormously popular in the colonies as well as Britain, selling nearly half a million copies. Because of its immense popularity, Paine was not able to keep his identity as its author a secret for very long. Portraying the acquiring of American independence as a moral obligation, Paine's work kindled a fire of revolution within the hearts of the colonists. Paine joined the army and served as a military assistant in several battles of the Revolutionary War. He also wrote a series of sixteen pamphlets entitled The American Crisis. The first pamphlet of the series, "These are the times that try men's souls," was used to encourage and lift the spirits of the Revolutionary Army.

        Though Paine was appointed to several political positions as a reward for the impact his writing had on the American Revolution, he turned out to be a little too openly crooked to hold these offices for very long. He returned to England in 1787 to request the funds needed to build an iron bridge, but he was denied. Paine's second most notable work, Rights of Man, he completed in 1792 while still in England. This work was Paine's fervent denouncement of the British traditional monarchy, which earned him a charge of treason. He then escaped to France where he was granted citizenship. Though Paine was an acclaimed spokesman for the French Revolution, he was incarcerated for making an objection to the execution of Louis XVI. James Monroe, the American ambassador, came to the rescue and sent him safely back to America.

        Paine lived out his final years in New York, a poor, miserable man. His Age of Reason, written in 1794, had caused him to fall out of favor with the public. This work was seen as a condemnation of Christian beliefs and even brought the disapproval of George Washington. Paine had become either behind or ahead of his time, as his work took the form of American Romanticism. Paine died in 1809 and was laid to rest on his farm in New Rochelle, New York.  The location of his remains are now unknown.

Works Cited

 

 

        "Thomas Paine." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton, 2003. 704-05. Print.

 

        "Thomas Paine's Common Sense." Earlyamerica.com. Archiving Early America, n.d. Web. 27 Sep. 2012.

 

        -Holly James