Transcript Thomas Paine - People's History Museum

Hidden by Red Saunders: An
Impressions Gallery touring
exhibition, 9 March – 29
September 2013
Thomas Paine, 1772
Overview
Thomas Paine was an English-American political activist
and revolutionary. In addition he authored two highly
influential pamphlets inspiring America to declare
independence from Britain.
The beginnings of a great man.
Working in East Sussex, Paine collected taxes and
tithes to distribute to the poor. It was observing these
conditions that led to him to write a 21 page article,
The Case of the Officers of Excise (1772) asking
Parliament for better living and working conditions,
his first political work.
Diary of events
14
He sold all his belongings and moved to London
April
Sept
Paine was introduced to Benjamin Franklin by George Lewis Scott
30
Nov
1774
Paine arrived in Philadelphia where he took the oath of allegiance.
The land of opportunity
His enjoyment of writing continued as he made America his home.
By January 1775 he used his literally abilities to
become a very capable editor of the Pennsylvania
Magazine.
The home of the free
As the American Revolution came to head,
Thomas Paine relished this opportunity to write
literature on his new home. Signed simply ‘written
by an Englishman’, Common Sense became an
overnight phenomenon .
100,000 copies were sold throughout the
In just three months
American British Colonies.
Influence?
Yes?
No?
 Paine’s pamphlet encouraged
•Paine’s ideas were very rarely used
as political argument
public debate about the cause
 Openly spoke about something
that had previously been
discussed very little.
 Modern scholars have
concluded that Paine was
portraying one distinctive idea;
democratic peace theory.
• Had little influence on the
Continental Congress’s decision to
issue a Declaration of Independence
What do you think?
Vive la revolution.
Despite America gaining independence in 1783. Paine
soon became a missionary of world revolution and
committed himself to the French Revolution after his
visit in 1790 and wrote two books on his experience.
The first was Rights of Man,
criticising monarchies and
European social institutions.
He secondly issued, Rights of Man, Part the
Second, Combining Principle and Practice, in
1792. This time he detailed social programs of
progressive tax measures which Governments
could use in order to remedy the high numbers
of commoners in poverty.
Paine in trouble
Paine returned to America at the
invitation of President Jefferson
where he remained disliked for his
attacks on the Government and
organised religion until his death.
After publishing The Age of
Reason, an assault on
organised religion, detailing
the many inconstancies in the
Bible, he was arrested in
France and narrowly escaped
execution.
Legacy
Though ruffling many feathers in his time, Thomas
Paine is often referred to as one of the fathers of
revolution and seen as a competent revolutionary
and activist.
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People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3 3ER
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