Common Sense and Related Writings

by Thomas Paine, Thomas P. Slaughter (Editor)

Thomas Paineâ s Common Sense is one of the most important and often assigned primary documents of the Revolutionary era. This edition of the pamphlet is unique in its inclusion of selections from Paineâ s other writings from 1775 and 1776 â additional essays that contextualize Common Sense and provide unusual insight on both the writer and the cause for which he wrote. The volume introduction includes coverage of Paineâ s childhood and early adult years in England, arguing for the significance of personal experience, environment, career, and religion in understanding Paineâ s influential political writings. The volume also includes a glossary, a chronology, 12 illustrations, a selected bibliography, and questions for consideration.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Classics

176 pages, paper

Published November 17, 2000

About the author

Thomas Paine was an English-American political activist, author, political theorist and revolutionary. As the author of two highly influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, he inspired the Patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era rhetoric of transnational human rights. He has been called "a corset maker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination".

Born in Thetford, England, in the county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American book that advocated colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and The American Crisis (1776–83), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. Common Sense was so influential that John Adams said, "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain."

Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), in part a defence of the French Revolution against its critics. His attacks on British writer Edmund Burke led to a trial and conviction in absentia in 1792 for the crime of seditious libel. In 1792, despite not being able to speak French, he was elected to the French National Convention. The Girondists regarded him as an ally. Consequently, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy.

In December 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of his pamphlet The Age of Reason (1793–94), in which he advocated deism, promoted reason and freethinking, and argued against institutionalized religion in general and Christian doctrine in particular. He also wrote the pamphlet Agrarian Justice (1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. In 1802, he returned to America where he died on June 8, 1809. Only six people attended his funeral as he had been ostracized for his ridicule of Christianity.

Reviews

[Jonathan Marston · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a man who questioned the divinity of Christ, he sure quoted Gods word and used it for reasoning a lot. Everything comes back to Jesus.

[Lindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading Thomas Paine more than I thought I would. I was surprised that he uses biblical and moral references often. I guess I've been around the political incorrectness of using moral arguments in regard to government for far too long. I think that Paine made a clear case against staying unite with the English government and I think the arguments are timely to read during this time of social change. I really think that no one should be taken seriously when it comes to social "reforms" unless they have read the Constitution and Founding Fathers' writings recently. It has really opened my eyes to the abuses of power and the corruption of our government and people