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Works of Thomas Paine
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Table of Contents
Common Sense
The American Crisis
The Rights of Man
The Age of Reason
A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, on the Affairs of North America, in Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America Are Corrected and Cleared Up. Appendix: Thomas Paine Biography
Kindle Edition
First published October 23, 2008
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About the author
Thomas Paine
1,480 books1,836 followersThomas 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 20, 2016
THESE are the times that try men's souls
If Thomas Paine were living today, he'd be rolling around in his grave. Just reading their Conclusion to his The Rights of Man is proof of how we moderns have flubbed up his notions of the great American potential.
Rational and reasonable were the two great expectations of this obsessive compulsive in the cause of liberty that have proved too great to achieve.. This collection, despite being salted with odd misspellings, is an excellent self-portrait of a man intimately involved in the American and French Revolutions who had the grand hope and audacity to believe one day humanity would finally get along.
Although Paine's remarkable positive influence in two revolution ought to put him on the same hallowed ground of Jefferson and Lafayette, his Age of Reason-- the most reasoned and well-researched account of the cruelties of organized religion and the wildly discursive, destructive stories of the Bible-- will no doubt forever ban him from the Founding Father's Hall of Fame.
If Thomas Paine were living today, he'd be rolling around in his grave. Just reading their Conclusion to his The Rights of Man is proof of how we moderns have flubbed up his notions of the great American potential.
Rational and reasonable were the two great expectations of this obsessive compulsive in the cause of liberty that have proved too great to achieve.. This collection, despite being salted with odd misspellings, is an excellent self-portrait of a man intimately involved in the American and French Revolutions who had the grand hope and audacity to believe one day humanity would finally get along.
Although Paine's remarkable positive influence in two revolution ought to put him on the same hallowed ground of Jefferson and Lafayette, his Age of Reason-- the most reasoned and well-researched account of the cruelties of organized religion and the wildly discursive, destructive stories of the Bible-- will no doubt forever ban him from the Founding Father's Hall of Fame.
August 13, 2020
as much as christians would like it there way no death bed conversion.
Some will say that Thomas Paine recanted on his death bed and suddenly expressed a belief in god. This a pure lie written long after his death by a maid who never met him. 20 individuals at his death bed, with christians among them, said he did not recant.
Some will say that Thomas Paine recanted on his death bed and suddenly expressed a belief in god. This a pure lie written long after his death by a maid who never met him. 20 individuals at his death bed, with christians among them, said he did not recant.
November 9, 2020
Understanding the True America
This collection of writings of Thomas Paine is something every American should read understand the foundations that this country was founded on and is based.
Much like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,, you cannot understand the United States without this collection. These documents all fit together as a set.
This collection of writings of Thomas Paine is something every American should read understand the foundations that this country was founded on and is based.
Much like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,, you cannot understand the United States without this collection. These documents all fit together as a set.
July 23, 2018
Quality of some of the writing is superlative. Thinking on religion is salient for today's philosophical debate.
November 11, 2025
Do yourself a favor and read this, especially at this time in America
July 2, 2022
I actually read this article online, but couldn't find it listed on Goodreads. So here this is instead.
A Serious Thought
Thomas Paine
[This article appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal, 18 October, 1775. Paine's comments are viewed by most historians as the earliest written expression of the coming Declaration of Independence]
When I reflect on the horrid cruelties exercised by Britain in the East Indies—How thousands perished by artificial famine—How religion and every manly principle of honour and honesty were sacrificed to luxury and pride—When I read of the wretched natives being blown away, for no other crime than because, sickened with the miserable scene, they refused to fight—When I reflect on these and a thousand instances of similar barbarity, I firmly believe that the Almighty, in compassion to mankind, will curtail the power of Britain. And when I reflect on the use she hath made of the discovery of this new world—that the little paltry dignity of earthly kings hath been set up in preference to the great cause of the King of kings—That instead of Christian examples to the Indians, she hath basely tampered with their passions, imposed on their ignorance, and made them tools of treachery and murder—And when to these and many other melancholy reflections I add this sad remark, that ever since the discovery of America she hath employed herself in the most horrid of all traffics, that of human flesh, unknown to the most savage nations, hath yearly (without provocation and in cold blood) ravaged the hapless shores of Africa, robbing it of its unoffending inhabitants to cultivate her stolen dominions in the West—When I reflect on these, I hesitate not for a moment to believe that the Almighty will finally separate America from Britain. Call it Independence or what you will, if it is the cause of God and humanity it will go on. And when the Almighty shall have blest us, and made us a people dependent only upon Him, then may our first gratitude be shown by an act of continental legislation, which shall put a stop to the importation of Negroes for sale, soften the hard fate of those already here, and in time procure their freedom. Humanus.
A Serious Thought
Thomas Paine
[This article appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal, 18 October, 1775. Paine's comments are viewed by most historians as the earliest written expression of the coming Declaration of Independence]
When I reflect on the horrid cruelties exercised by Britain in the East Indies—How thousands perished by artificial famine—How religion and every manly principle of honour and honesty were sacrificed to luxury and pride—When I read of the wretched natives being blown away, for no other crime than because, sickened with the miserable scene, they refused to fight—When I reflect on these and a thousand instances of similar barbarity, I firmly believe that the Almighty, in compassion to mankind, will curtail the power of Britain. And when I reflect on the use she hath made of the discovery of this new world—that the little paltry dignity of earthly kings hath been set up in preference to the great cause of the King of kings—That instead of Christian examples to the Indians, she hath basely tampered with their passions, imposed on their ignorance, and made them tools of treachery and murder—And when to these and many other melancholy reflections I add this sad remark, that ever since the discovery of America she hath employed herself in the most horrid of all traffics, that of human flesh, unknown to the most savage nations, hath yearly (without provocation and in cold blood) ravaged the hapless shores of Africa, robbing it of its unoffending inhabitants to cultivate her stolen dominions in the West—When I reflect on these, I hesitate not for a moment to believe that the Almighty will finally separate America from Britain. Call it Independence or what you will, if it is the cause of God and humanity it will go on. And when the Almighty shall have blest us, and made us a people dependent only upon Him, then may our first gratitude be shown by an act of continental legislation, which shall put a stop to the importation of Negroes for sale, soften the hard fate of those already here, and in time procure their freedom. Humanus.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews