Thomas Paine

The firebrand pamphleteer who ignited revolutions on both sides of the Atlantic.

He was active in the French Revolution and was a member of the French National Convention between 1792 and 1795.^[1]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Thomas Pain
Nickname: Republicus (Pen name)
Born: 9 February 1737 (N.S.)
Birthplace: Thetford, Norfolk, England
Died: 8 June 1809
Place of death: Greenwich Village, New York City, U.S.
Office: Deputy of the National Convention
Took office: September 20, 1792

Life and work

Paine was born on January 29, 1737 to a family of moderate means in Norfolk, England.^[1] His father was a Quaker and his mother an Anglican.^[1] In his mid-teens, inspired by romantic stories of naval life, Paine twice ran away from home to sea.^[1] In Philadelphia he developed an acquaintance with publisher Robert Aitkin, who employed him to edit the Pennsylvania Magazine.^[1]

Encouraged by Benjamin Rush, Paine began work on a pamphlet defending the case of American independence in autumn 1775.^[1] With assistance from Benjamin Franklin, Paine moved to the British American colonies in 1774.^[2] On January 10, 1776, the pamphlet Common Sense was released in Philadelphia, with its author listed only as "by an Englishman".^[3] Paine claimed that within three months, 100,000 copies of the pamphlet had been sold.^[3]

What the cited sources add

Philp states that Paine is seen by many as a key figure in the emergence of claims for the state's responsibilities for welfare and educational provision.^[1] Philp observes that Paine consolidated his reputation as a pamphleteer with his series of American Crisis letters (1777–83).^[1] The Thomas Paine Historical Association records that on June 29, 1776, writing as "Republicus", Paine made the first public declaration calling for the country to be named the "United States of America".^[4] Philp notes that Paine's attack on monarchy in Common Sense is essentially an attack on George III.^[1]

Philp explains that Paine creates an image of a nation come of age, ready for freedom from its unnatural parent.^[1]

References

Philp, Mark, "Thomas Paine", 2013. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
Wikipedia, "Thomas Paine" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hitchens, Christopher, "Thomas Paine's Rights of Man", Grove Press, 2008, p. 37; Kaye, Harvey J., "Thomas Paine and the Promise of America", Hill & Wang, 2005, p. 43 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Thomas Paine" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hitchens, Christopher, "Thomas Paine's Rights of Man", Grove Press, 2008, p. 37; Oliphant, "Paine, Thomas"; Raphael, "Thomas Paine's Inflated Numbers", Journal of the American Revolution, March 20, 2013; Scharf, "History of Philadelphia", Рипол Классик, p. 310 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
"Is it true that Thomas Paine first coined the phrase, "The United States of America?"", Thomas Paine Historical Association. facts only, no text reused. thomaspaine.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Thomas Paine (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.