African Slavery in America

by Thomas Paine

African Slavery in AmericaThomas Paine, english-american political activist, author, political theorist and revolutionary (1737-1809)This ebook presents «African Slavery in America», from Thomas Paine. A dynamic table of contents enables to jump directly to the chapter selected.Table of Contents-01- About this book-02- AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA

6 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2014

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

[David]

I’m disappointed to learn that modern scholarship casts much doubt on Paine’s authorship of this 1775 pamphlet, a moral evisceration of those practicing slavery. For one thing, the essay makes appeals from Christianity, which doesn't reflect Paine's perspective. A likely author is abolitionist Samuel Hopkins. See https://www.thomaspaine.org/writings/...

[Bread · Rating 4 out of 5]

paine is most often credited for this v short article, & it certainly reads in his style - taking a universal rights-based approach with pleas for common humanity on the subject of african slavery & abolition. he briefly addresses biblical arguments in favour of slavery & rejects them. also makes points on the distinctive evils of african chattel slavery compared to older forms of slavery+the hypocrisy of americans seeking to overthrow oppression & tyranny (this was written in 1775!) while enslaving multitudes themselves. paine suggests that after abolition, freed slaves could be given land & property to start their own families & be productive members of society, anticipating the free soil republican vision/ideology of the 1840s