Thomas Paine Architect of the American Revolution

The Writings of Thomas Paine:

An Unsung Hero and Architect of the American Revolution
The writings of Thomas Paine were a critically influential voice that helped tip the balance of popular opinion in favor of revolution in colonial America. It is easy to forget that many of the Founding Fathers were deeply embedded in the governing structures of Great Britain within the colonies, even though they attempted to gain a greater voice for the nation in Parliament, particularly in regards to the issue of prohibitive taxation. Paine alone, as a strident voice, was an early and unequivocal supporter of independence.
As noted by Jill Lepore in her essay “The Sharpened Quill” about Paine’s legacy, it is directly documented that John Adams read Paine’s anonymous pamphlet “Common Sense” when he was debating within himself the wisdom of seeking independence for the colonies. Lepore calls “Common Sense” an “anonymous, fanatical, and brutally brilliant” document that ultimately had the power to “convince the American people of what more than a decade of taxes and nearly a year of war had not: that it was nothing less than their destiny to declare independence from Britain” (Lepore). According to Lepore, Paine offered practical justifications for separating from the mother country, including the growing taxation burden, but also a philosophical justification that lingers in the American conscience today, namely America’s sense of uniqueness as a free nation.
Paine was a Quaker born poor in England who traveled to the colonies when he was financially ruined in his country of birth (Lepore). His Quakerism is often used as an explanation of his strong sense of social justice and belief in equality, given that the Quaker faith lacks a strong sense of hierarchy. Paine was not formally educated but had clearly internalized many Enlightenment ideas, as reflected in his document “Common Sense.” In fact, the ability to translate “Lockean liberalism, classical republicanism, and Leveller radicalism…especially Newtonian rationalism” into popular language is a clear part of Paine’s appeal (Lepore). Although other Founding Fathers’ contributions may be better remembered, like the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, it is Paine’s rhetoric that generated support for the radical step of breaking away from Great Britain. “Paine’s contributions to the nation’s founding would be hard to overstate. ‘Common Sense’ made it possible to declare independence” (Lepore).
Paine was quite explicit about the fact that he would not use any kind of ornamental language in his writings with the intention of making it as accessible as possible. Even though he himself was literate enough, despite his lack of education, his background made him highly sensitive to the fact that many of his readers were not. “As it is my design to make those that can scarcely read understand,” Paine stated, he would thus “avoid every literary ornament and put it in language as plain as the alphabet” (Paine). Paine, unlike some of the Founding Fathers, did not write for the upper echelons of colonial society but the people who would ultimately come to fill the boots of Washington’s army. This commonplace language also underlined the democratic, anti-royalist sentiment that made the colonists’ cause more appealing; it was not simply about taxation and commerce, Paine urged, but about the nature of freedom itself and the fact that America was not about who one was born as, but what one would and could become. Again, this is still a sentiment that lingers on in the American consciousness today.
Interestingly enough, John Adams began to dislike Paine, viewing him as an uneducated rabble-rouser, although he obviously became a strong supporter of independence himself. He also wrote to Thomas Jefferson that historians would later ascribe the beginnings of the American Revolution to Thomas Paine, not to himself and Jefferson, although ironically Paine is largely forgotten today while Adams and Jefferson are remembered (Lepore). Adams, like many of the Founding Fathers was effectively a member of the colonial aristocracy, unlike Paine, and felt that more reasoned and educated individuals should be the voice of colonial independence. Yet even Adams admitted “Without the pen of the author of ‘Common Sense,’ the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain” (Lepore). Furthermore, Paine clearly was a true believer—despite the fact that he was a poor man, unlike the other Founding Fathers, he devoted all of the profits of “Common Sense” to the colonial army, rather than keeping it for his own enrichment (Lepore). He also served in the army and continued to write during his time of service. Before Washington made his famous crossing of the Delaware River to attack the British in Trenton, Washington rallied his troops using Paine’s words: “These are the times that try men’s souls” (Paine). Again, this stands as a tribute to Paine’s ability to understand and speak the language of the common man and soldier.
Paine remained, even after the American Revolution, one of the new nation’s most radical thinkers. He returned to Great Britain for a time to write strident pieces in support of the French Revolution, which he also supported (Lepore). He also frequently wrote against institutionalized religion. Although Paine was not an atheist, he did not believe in religion itself and once again, Paine’s belief in the need to abolish all institutions based upon privilege underlines many popular lines of thought embraced within America today. Paine was also an early anti-colonist, criticizing Britain for ““ravage[ing] the hapless shores of Africa, robbing it of its unoffending inhabitants to cultivate her stolen dominions in the West” (Monahan). Despite the fact that his anti-taxation stance and railing against the British government has made him a popular posterchild of many American politicians and voices on the right, Paine was an anti-apologetic leftist. In fact, in one of his defenses of the French Revolution, “The Rights of Man II,” Paine sketched out an early blueprint for a full social welfare system, proposing, “not only the abolition of feudal privileges but also the introduction of large taxes on luxury goods and inheritances, and the use of the funds raised to pay for an elaborate welfare state,” but also free public education (Monahan).
Although not all of Paine’s proposals were incorporated into the new and emerging American nation, the passion in his defense of republicanism was clearly a critical factor in rallying the necessary support for all citizens of America, not simply the wealthiest or most influential people who had, ironically, benefited to a great extend from America’s relationship with Great Britain until Britain began see the need to raise taxes and place greater controls upon the colonies to enrich itself. Without Paine, discussion of independence would have remained relatively academic and unpopular and confined to a small segment of the population. Paine is not simply a Founding Father, he is a critically important one, and should be remembered better than he is today and studied along with Jefferson, Adams, and Washington, all of whom were engaged with his works.


Works Cited
Lepore, Jill. “The Sharpened Quill.” The New Yorker. 16 Oct 2006. Web. 6 Nov 2017.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/16/the-sharpened-quill
Monahan, Sean. “Reading Paine From the Left.” Jacobean Magazine. 6 Mar 2015. Web.
6 Nov 2017. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/03/thomas-paine-american-revolution- common-sense/