Thomas Paine
Common Sense
24 x 18 inches • oil on wood panel • artist Steve Simon
Biography
About the Painting
Selected Quote
Overview
Thomas Paine is best known for his authorship of the highly influential pamphelt Common Sense. In reference to Paine, John Adams once said, “Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.”
Paine’s pen not only proved moving in America’s drive for independence and the establishment of our republic, but he played a notable role in the French Revolution as well. Far ahead of his time, Paine is the only notable Founding Father who was an outspoken abolitionist and supporter of women’s rights.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense
Thomas Paine Biography
Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, England on January 29, 1737. Unremarkable in school, he began apprenticing for his father and later worked as an excise tax officer. In 1774, he met Benjamin Franklin in London. Franklin advised Paine to immigrate to America. Later that year, Paine came to Philadelphia and began work as a publicist.
Like Franklin, Paine integrated with the Iroquois, gaining valuable insights from them. The Enlightenment Movement was founded upon the philosophy of natural law and men like Franklin and Paine found this philosophy preeminent in the Iroquois way of life, its closeness to nature, and its democratic confederation of nations.
To Paine living under the monarchial rule of a distant king was antithetical to the notion of natural law. In 1776, the colonists lacked consensus in regard to seeking independence from the British Crown. That year Paine wrote his famous pamphlet Common Sense—an inspiringly provocative call for American independence and for the creation of a new, democratic republic to replace the old monarchy. Brilliantly crafted, Paine’s pamphlet united colonists in the common cause.
Thomas Paine by Sir Charles Thomas Wheeler in Thetford, England. Photo by Andrewself.
During the Revolutionary War, Paine became Secretary of the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs and wrote the powerfully influential “Crisis” papers. Though his impact on the founding of America was profound, Paine is not typically counted among the Founding Fathers. This slight is made all the more insulting when we consider Paine was the only notable personality of the Revolutionary Period that was not only deeply invested in the fight for independence and the establishment of a democratic republic but was also a women’s rights advocate and an abolitionist.
Paine was the only notable personality of the Revolutionary Period that was not only deeply invested in the fight for independence and the establishment of a democratic republic but was also a women’s rights advocate and an abolitionist.
In 1775, Paine published an essay called “An Occasional Letter On The Female Sex.” His empathy for the servile plight of women in this essay is powerful, standing in sharp contrast to the typical male chauvinism of the era. Another essay entitled “African Slavery in America,” presented a fervent objection to the abhorrent practice of slavery. Some historians have attributed this publication to Paine, but others have disagreed. Regardless of the whether Paine authored the essay or not, it is certain that Paine never owned slaves and he did help to establish the first abolitionist society in America. Add to this the fact that he took firm stands against animal cruelty, dueling, and non-suffrage for landless citizens, and Paine’s fervor for freedom and equality rooted in natural law and reason becomes richly evident.
After the war, Paine returned to Europe and supported the French Revolution. In The Rights of Man, he once again derided the institution of monarchy and emphasized the need for social reform. In the wake of efforts to discredit him, Paine responded with The Rights of Man, Part the Second. Like Common Sense, the writings were immensely influential and provocative. He was tried and convicted for sedition in Britain precipitating his flight to France. There, Paine was granted honorary French citizenship and elected to the National Convention despite having no capacity to speak French.
In France, the political winds shifted, and Paine’s natural outspokenness led to his imprisonment. With the help of James Monroe, Paine was released and some years later returned to America where he once again faced unexpected headwinds. The nation stood at the outset of the Second Great Awakening, a period of ascendancy of the religiously devout and the Federalist Party. Paine had, in the meantime, authored The Age of Reason, challenging institutionalized religion, and putting him at odds with the movement. Federalists further rejected him for assisting in the French Revolution, for philosophies promoted in Common Sense, and for being a friend of Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican.
On June 8, 1809, Thomas Paine died an unpopular figure. Six people attended his funeral.
About the Painting
In 1764 Great Britain began raising tax revenues through a series of acts levied against the Thirteen American colonies. With increases in taxation, the colonists grew increasingly agitated by this “taxation without representation.” The Boston Tea Party of 1773 was a direct form of disobedience to these measures. Trans-Atlantic tensions increased and preliminary fighting broke out in Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.
Still, American colonists were divided over the radical step of seeking independence from Great Britain. Many of the colonists were loyal to the Crown. Moreover, speaking out against Britain was considered treasonous and armed revolution against the strongest military power in the world was deemed foolish.
Suddenly, on January 10, 1776, the pamphlet Common Sense was injected into the breach. Written anonymously, it called not only for independence from Britain, but also the establishment of a democratic republic. It was an enormous success, remaining to this day the most circulated publication in American history on a per capita basis.
Paine’s authorship (which would be made known on March 30, 1776) was a masterstroke of prose and clever planning for at least four reasons. Firstly, atypical of Enlightenment Era writing, he wrote in understandable prose directed at the common man. Secondly, despite being a Deist, he wrote with Biblical references designed to resonate with his mostly Protestant target audience. Thirdly, he and his original publisher planned its publication to coincide with an increase in King George III’s anti-independence rhetoric, lending maximum counterpoint. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Paine surrendered all copyrights, giving all publishers freedom to print without paying royalties.
The painting is an allegory of that last and most magnanimous point. In one hand, Paine holds his rich intellectual work. The other hand is extended in a gesture of generous giving. That gift would rouse the cause for independence rooted in an egalitarian, democratic republic and, by example, many other such causes around the world in the ensuing years on up to the present.
Selected Thomas Paine Quote
“Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”
