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5.0
“It is by distortedly exulting some men that others are distortedly debased.”
Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man is to the disposition of freedom and liberty what Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is to the evolution and natural selection of life. Yes, it is imperfect, but it put forth a coalesced set of principles that, quite literally, changed the world.
“...though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant. The mind, in discovering truth, acts in the same manner as it acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition it was in before it saw it.”
Taken in the context of his time, Paine was a radical. He was an advocate of representative republics in an age of kings. Paine championed both the American and the French revolutions and was an outspoken opponent of monarchy, theocracy and slavery.
In my opinion, Thomas Paine is the embodiment of eighteenth century enlightenment. He was, at once, a political theorist, a philosopher, an activist, and a revolutionary. The fact that he is often little more than a footnote in the high school textbooks of American history is a travesty and a shameful embarrassment.
“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”
__________________________________
“A pamphlet called ‘Commonsense’ makes a great noise. One of the vilest things that ever was published to the world. Full of false representations, lies, calumny, and treason, whose principles are to subvert all Kingly Governments and erect an Independent Republic.” ~Nicholas Cresswell
One could argue that without Thomas Paine’s Common Sense of January 1776, there would be no American Declaration of Independence of July 1776. True there was discontent and animosity between England and Colonial America, but, prior to Paine’s polemic, the prevailing sentiment was weighted toward reconciliation, not rebellion.
“Have you read the pamphlet Common Sense?’ I never saw such a masterful performance... In short, I own myself convinced, by the arguments, of the necessity of separation.” ~General Charles Lee
Paine himself was originally a British loyalist, but the battles of Lexington and Concord* (April 1775) changed his mind.
“No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.” (pg 48)
Say what you will, Paine was a masterful wordsmith. The simple eloquence and ethical reasoning of Common Sense (which, by the way, he published anonymously) helped transform the collective conscience of the colonies. If ever there was required reading of early American history, this is it.
“Of Common Sense it can be said, without any risk of cliché, that it was a catalyst that altered the course of history.” ~Christopher Hitchens
*NOTE: The Battles of Lexington and Concord were considered a major military victory for King George III and his soldiers. Many colonial minutemen were killed, making it clear that any behavior that was deemed contrary to the King’s interest would not be tolerated.
Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man is to the disposition of freedom and liberty what Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is to the evolution and natural selection of life. Yes, it is imperfect, but it put forth a coalesced set of principles that, quite literally, changed the world.
“...though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant. The mind, in discovering truth, acts in the same manner as it acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition it was in before it saw it.”
Taken in the context of his time, Paine was a radical. He was an advocate of representative republics in an age of kings. Paine championed both the American and the French revolutions and was an outspoken opponent of monarchy, theocracy and slavery.
In my opinion, Thomas Paine is the embodiment of eighteenth century enlightenment. He was, at once, a political theorist, a philosopher, an activist, and a revolutionary. The fact that he is often little more than a footnote in the high school textbooks of American history is a travesty and a shameful embarrassment.
“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”
__________________________________
“A pamphlet called ‘Commonsense’ makes a great noise. One of the vilest things that ever was published to the world. Full of false representations, lies, calumny, and treason, whose principles are to subvert all Kingly Governments and erect an Independent Republic.” ~Nicholas Cresswell
One could argue that without Thomas Paine’s Common Sense of January 1776, there would be no American Declaration of Independence of July 1776. True there was discontent and animosity between England and Colonial America, but, prior to Paine’s polemic, the prevailing sentiment was weighted toward reconciliation, not rebellion.
“Have you read the pamphlet Common Sense?’ I never saw such a masterful performance... In short, I own myself convinced, by the arguments, of the necessity of separation.” ~General Charles Lee
Paine himself was originally a British loyalist, but the battles of Lexington and Concord* (April 1775) changed his mind.
“No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.” (pg 48)
Say what you will, Paine was a masterful wordsmith. The simple eloquence and ethical reasoning of Common Sense (which, by the way, he published anonymously) helped transform the collective conscience of the colonies. If ever there was required reading of early American history, this is it.
“Of Common Sense it can be said, without any risk of cliché, that it was a catalyst that altered the course of history.” ~Christopher Hitchens
*NOTE: The Battles of Lexington and Concord were considered a major military victory for King George III and his soldiers. Many colonial minutemen were killed, making it clear that any behavior that was deemed contrary to the King’s interest would not be tolerated.
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